


The Long Way Round

by MistressofTime



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Doesn't take place in Voyager at all, Don't worry you don't have to know about Star Trek, Ezra and Sarah/Gemini have a sibling relationship, He breaks up a few fights between them, Hera is literally the only person with more than two brain cells, It's just SWR episodes, Kanan is kinda the space dad the whole time, Mentions of Characters from Voyager, No Romance, Plot Twist, She is Space Mom, Small Star Trek Crosssover, Story Starts with Property of Ezra Bridger, Though a little knowledge is fine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24391129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressofTime/pseuds/MistressofTime
Summary: Sarah Hadwin was the sole cadet to be invited onto the starship Voyager on its fated mission. After spending the better part of three years in the Delta Quadrant, an accident occurred involving the Warp Core that flung her into a completely different universe and changed her as well.This is the story of how the newly named Gemini Janeway found her way home, the long way round.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. The Street Rat

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars Rebels or any of its characters. They belong to Lucasfilm and Disney.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sarah Hadwin wakes up in a strange new world, meets the resident street rat, and gets a new name.

Sarah awoke to a blinding light in her eyes. Shading her eyes with her hands, she let her eyes adjust to the bright light. Once she was able to see properly, it took her a while to process the fact that the light came from _two suns_.

_Well, at least I know I’m in a binary system._

She pulled herself up from the ground, allowing her eyes to wander around her surroundings. She was in what looked like a back alley. It was surrounded by white adobe buildings; ripped posters lined the walls and tumbled over the ground. Smoke rose up above the roofs of the buildings in the distance.

The next thing she noticed were her clothes. She was wearing a dark purple halter top with thick black straps, black skinny jeggings, and black armored boots with dark purple highlights. All she needed was a nice leather jacket to complete her “Rebel Chick” look. Not that she was complaining. She picked up a discarded piece of metal, brushing off the thick layer of dust, and looked at her reflection. Her previously long wavy black hair was now a dark chestnut. It was straight and flat, not even going past her shoulder blades. It would take some getting used to.

After observing her reflection, she noticed that her comm badge was missing from its usual spot. She panicked slightly, quickly looking around her before spotting it lying on the ground a few feet away. She breathed a sigh of relief before picking it up and brushing off the fine layer of dirt on its surface. She contemplated placing it back in its place before tucking it in a pocket.

A scrap of paper drifted lazily past her feet. She quickly dropped her impromptu mirror and placed her foot on on the poster before it could pass out of reach, grabbing it and uncrumpling it. The poster seemed to be advertising the local law enforcement in a way that for some reason reminded her of Nazi propaganda during World War II.

She let the poster drop to the ground, walking towards the busy street at the end of the alleyway. She stayed in the shadows after seeing the locals, or what she thought was the locals. She spotted a few species that seemed to be humans, but for some reason looked different than those on Voyager. The other humanoids were completely foreign to her. She didn’t remember seeing anything similar in Voyager’s database, or even in what little species Seven had showed her.

She was definitely on a different planet, far away from Voyager.

Or just a really convincing holodeck.

* * *

The Imperial Officer stormed down the corridor of the station. He wasn’t happy, and the people who quickly moved out of his way knew it too. How could the Subject have escaped? It just wasn’t possible! It had round the clock security. Cameras watched its every move. Someone had allowed this to happen, and he would find out who.

His second-in-command rushed up to him when he entered the security room. “Have you found the subject yet?” He asked her.

“Not yet, sir.” She gestured to the screen filled with footage from security cameras. “We’ve looked through every piece of footage since the subject disappeared a dozen times, sir. It’s as if she just disappeared into thin air.”

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do people just disappear into thin air, Colonel?”

“No, sir.”

“So, logically, there has to be an explanation, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Subject two-zero-one-four is a top priority. Everything else will be ignored.” He stepped closer to the Colonel until he was inches away from her face. “The Admiral will be expecting progress. You’re a fine officer, Stone. You wouldn’t want to be the one to tell him it escaped, would you?”

The colonel gulped. “No, General.”

“Then I expect progress.” He turned from the Colonel and stormed from the room. He had risked everything to get this assignment. He would not loose it because of one escaped subject. “Find it!”

* * *

This was fantastic. Absolutely great. She was on an unfamiliar planet, probably stranded, with no way to contact Voyager, even if it was in range.

The humanoids walking past her were way too real for this place to be just a holodeck. So were the local law enforcement officers walking towards her . . .

She quickly walked out of the alley, falling into a group of people that was passing by. Her mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. _First, I should figure out which planet I’m on. Once I do, I can figure out how to get off it . . . I have to . . ._

The group of people suddenly walked into a building, and since she didn’t know what to do, she was left out in the open and the troopers spotted her.

“Halt!”

She stood still, her heart beginning to race. Don’t run. Running’s bad. If you run, that means you have something to hide. _Thanks for the tip, Tom_.

The officers approached her, keeping a firm grasp on their gun-thing. “Identify yourself!” Unidentified Trooper #1 commanded.

She gulped.

“Gemini!” A form suddenly ran in front of her, partially blocking her from the stormtroopers. “Thank goodness I’ve found you! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

“You know this girl?” Unidentified Trooper #2 asked, relaxing his grip on his gun-thing slightly.

"I'm so sorry, officer. My sister can't speak. She was born without vocal cords. Tragic, I know."

She stared at the ground for emphasis. The figure was still too close for her to see him properly, but he definitely sounded like he was around her age, around fourteen to fifteen years old.

The Unidentified Troopers straightened in surprise and almost dropped their gun-things. “Well, uh, move along then!” One said. “Move along.”

“Thank you, kind sirs!” The figure grabbed her hand, and pulled her away from the UNTs (Unidentified Troopers). As he pulled her away, she finally got a good look at her rescuer. He had raven-blue hair and tanned skin. He wore an orange jumpsuit with a high, dusty yellow collar with a dark, almost-brown orange vest on top. The bottoms of the jumpsuit were a slightly brighter orange color. He had some sort of shin guard on his right leg and a knee pad on his left. He had worn-looking brown boots on his feet and a battered backpack placed on his back. The hand that gripped her’s tightly was covered with dark gray fingerless gloves.

“Where are we - “

“Ask me later!” The boy said. “We need to get out of the city first.”

“Uh, right.” He pulled her into an alley on the outer edge of the city a few minutes later. Some bike of some sort floated off of the ground after he pushed a few buttons. “You coming or not?” He asked her.

It wasn’t every day a complete stranger saved your butt from the local law enforcement and then asked you to come with him. Also, she was still trying to wrap her head around where exactly she was, so she hesitated.

He held out his hand. “Trust me.”

She stared at the stranger’s hand for a moment before taking it and allowing him to help her onto the floating bike. He inched the bike out of the alley, making sure to check both ways for troopers before pulling out and speeding out of the city.

* * *

The boy, Ezra, had been kind enough to offer her what little space he had to her for the night. When Sarah had asked how long she could stay, he had said, _As long as you need. I could use the company_. Ezra was also kind enough to share what food he had with her. She had lied a tiny bit when she said she wasn’t hungry, but he had responded with a look that said he could see otherwise.

 _“I know hunger when I see it,”_ he had said.

Ezra was a nice boy, and hadn’t asked any questions, such as why would she of all people would be stopped by a couple of troopers. She also didn’t really know who’s side to be on, so she just went with her savior/kidnapper/stranger friend.

That night, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep due to the nightmares that kept her awake. She found herself on the balcony of the tower that Ezra stayed in, lying on her back and staring at the stars. She found herself making shapes with the stars, something she used to do with Icheb on Voyager.

She called it home, once. Now, she wasn’t sure she would see it ever again.

She still didn’t know what this planet was called, which meant she still had no real idea where she was. She had to find out, but she didn’t want to say, “Hey, Ezra! I just appeared here because of some alien voodoo magic stuff and am pretty sure that I’m in a different universe and need to learn to survive, so teach me everything, please!”

She sighed, trying to think of a good excuse. She’s pretty sure that there were a couple of accidents in Earth’s past where a person completely forgot how to do certain things or didn’t remember people in their lives at all. Maybe she should just say she fell somewhere and didn’t remember what anything in the universe was.

Yeah, that’ll make so much sense.

While she tried to make up a good excuse, she picked up what seemed to be this universe’s version of a PADD and scrolled through it’s contents. Just her luck, it happened to contain the history of the “Glorious Galactic Empire.” As she read on and on about the Empire’s rise to power, she began to like it less and less. It seemed more like a dictatorship than the democracy they made it out to be.

She sighed. Whoever this Emperor guy was, he wasn’t the way home, wherever that was. She was at least sure about that.

She managed to click her way through the files on the PADD and found a map of the system they were in. It was at the very edge of the map labeled the “Outer Rim.” The planets located there were mostly dry, desert type planets. The planets located in the "Inner Rim” were the richer planets with a heavier stormtrooper presence.

Ezra walked up behind where she was sitting on the balcony. “‘The History of the Galactic Empire’ huh?” He sat down next to her. “Must be a stimulating read.”

Sarah sighed, lowering the PADD. “It’s not exactly my favorite read.”

Ezra smiled slightly. “Then can you tell me what is? Maybe I can procure it for you. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

She laid back on the balcony, placing her right arm behind her head as a pillow. She took a deep breath. “I don’t remember.”

Ezra kind of chuckled. “Must have been an exciting book, then.”

She stared up at the clouds drifting lazily in the dark sky above them, not saying anything.

Ezra sat up straighter. “Wait, are you serious?”

She nodded slightly. “There was an accident. At least, I think there was an accident.” A few imagined scenes flashed across her mind: bright lights blinding her, the sound of an alarm, a furious voice yelling to not let her escape . . . Tom would be proud of her imagined plight. “I remember voices yelling, and bright lights, but that’s it. Nothing before then, and nothing after then until I woke up here on Lothal.”

Ezra’s eyes grew sad. “You really don’t remember?”

Sarah shook her head, starting to feel bad for lying to such a nice boy, but she didn’t think Ezra could handle the truth just yet.

Ezra sighed. “Well, at least you can still read. That’s good, right?”

Sarah turned to look at him, smiling slightly. “Yeah.”

“I assume you don’t remember your name, then either.”

“I like what you called me earlier. Gemini.”

Ezra smiled, holding out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Gemini.”

She grinned back at him and took his hand. “Nice to meet you too, Ezra.” She sat up as Ezra stood and walked back into the tower. “What are you doing?”

“Making preparations!” He threw a grin over his shoulder. “I’m going to have to make room for a slightly more permanent roommate, aren’t I?”


	2. Property of Ezra Bridger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gemini and Ezra bond over tinkering and messing with the Empire.

As it turns out, spending life as Ezra’s slightly-more-permanent roommate wasn’t all bad. He took it upon himself to “Re-teach” her everything she “forgot.” First, he took her into Capital City and showed her all the different species that could be found. She filed them away in her memory, taking in the Rodians and Ithorians and many other species with interest. He introduced her to some of his friends like Old Jho, an Ithorian bartender and the local cantina owner.

Ezra also told her his story; how his parents used to broadcast transmissions speaking against the Empire from their hidden basement, and how they were arrested. They were taken when Ezra was just a boy, and Ezra had spent the last eight years on the streets.

Sarah’s heart went out to him. She understood now the cruelty of the Empire: they wanted to be in charge and hold supreme power, and they didn’t care who they hurt to get it.

One aspect of this reality she wasn’t prepared for was reliance on money, called credits. They weren’t that “liquid” at the moment, whatever that meant, so they had to steal to get the food and supplies they needed. Ezra called it “borrowing without permission.” She asked him if they would get in trouble with the Empire if someone told on them.

_“Everyone here is doing the same as us, just trying to get by. And besides, if anyone did tell, you only get in trouble if you get caught.”_

Rule Number One: Don’t get caught.

What was rule number two? Well, she was still working on that.

* * *

After a few weeks of teaching her the basics, Ezra found Sarah looking at the engine of the speeder bike he had stolen a few months ago. She was fiddling around with a wrench and one of the bolts securing the engine. “What are you doing?” He asked her.

“Just tinkering.” She put the wrench down, observed the rest of the tools, and grabbed another smaller, thinner tool with a flat end.

Ezra leaned down to look at the engine with her, slightly concerned. “I didn’t know you can tinker.” He looked at her. “CAN you tinker?”

She shrugged, still using the same tool on the engine. “Apparently.” She stood up, put the tool down, and wiped her hands. “I think that should run better now.”

Ezra looked at her with a raised eyebrow before starting speeder bike up. It hummed to life easily. He looked back at Sarah. “I’ve been trying to fix this thing for weeks. What’d you do?"

She shrugged. “I just noticed a couple of bolts and screws loose, that’s all."

Ezra laughed, shaking his head. “You’re full of surprises, ain'tcha?”

She shrugged again. _Nope_ , she told herself, _I just had a good teacher_. She silently thanked Lt. Torres and Tom for forcing her to pay attention when they tinkered with the Delta Flyer.

She and Ezra decided to walk into town later that day to “pick up” some supplies. Well, Ezra “picked up” the supplies. She found Mr. Sumar at his set up and chatted with him about the city. He invited her to visit more often after she organized his displays without thinking while chatting about Ezra.

Ezra came back with his backpack full of a fruit he called a “Jogun.” They were quite delicious. Neelix would be jealous.

They started the walk back to their comm tower. During their walks like this, Ezra would quiz her on various subjects, like what certain ships were called and what to do in different situations. After a while, they continued to walk in a comfortable silence for a bit before Ezra started whistling a little tune she had heard him whistle before.

An explosion sounded from the clouds above them, making Ezra trail off and look into the sky. Her eyes widened as a diamond-shaped ship descended below the clouds, firing at another smaller black ship flying behind them.

“That smaller black ship is a TIE Fighter, right?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Ezra answered. “The other one is probably a cargo ship stealing something.”

The cargo ship and the TIE exchanged a couple more shots before the cargo ship landed a hit on the TIE, sending it spiraling to the ground.

Ezra started running towards the downed TIE Fighter.

Sarah’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?!” She shouted after him.

“C’mon!” He yelled back over his shoulder.

Sarah huffed before running after him. “This kid is going to be the death of me,” she said to herself.

Ezra and Sarah shielded their faces as they ran up to the wreckage of the TIE. Ezra pounded on the front window of the TIE. “Mister! Hey, you okay? You alive?”

An angry voice sounded from the inside of the spacecraft. “Get your hands off my craft! This fighter is property of the Empire!”

Sarah huffed again. “I think that’s a yes.”

Ezra threw a smirk at her before climbing the TIE to get to the access hatch at the top.

“I told you to get off this ship!”

Ezra grinned down at her. “Not much of a ship anymore, is it?”

Sarah observed its damaged wings. “Nah. This thing isn’t going anywhere."

“Besides,” Ezra said - half to her and half to the officer inside - “I’m just trying to open her up.” He opened the hatch, allowing Sarah to finally see inside the TIE as the smoke escaped.

The officer took off his helmet, coughing a little.

“Don’t say thank you or anything,” Ezra mentioned to the officer.

“Thank you?! Please. I’m an officer of the Imperial Navy. I didn’t need your help.”

“Course not.” Ezra jumped into the TIE.

Sarah stepped closer to the window so she could see Ezra at work. The Starfleet part of her made her feel guilty for a second, but the feeling quickly dissipated.

“Wait!” Ezra said. “Your sleeve’s caught on the flight recorder.”

“It is?”

“Let me just unhook it for you!”

The flight recorder made a small clicking sound as Ezra took it from its slot in the ship.

The officer heard it. “What was that?”

“So why were you chasing that cargo ship? Were they smugglers?”

“That’s confidential Informa-“

“Whoa there, sir. Bit of metal caught on your, um, posterior.” Ezra leaned forward, trying to take another bit of the ship from its spot. “Wouldn’t want an officer of the Imperial Navy to split his pants.”

“No, I - my pants, I -“

“That just wouldn’t be dignified. Hold still. Almost got it . . .” He slipped it from its spot, flipping it in his hand. “There! Now, remember sir: no Thank You’s. Here, I’ll take that.” He grabbed the pilot’s helmet and tossed it over his shoulder, outside of the craft, and into her hands. Sarah caught it with a grin. “You didn’t need our help, and besides . . .” He pushed the pilot down, using him as a boost to jump out of the craft.

Sarah laughed, finishing his statement. “ . . . we didn’t come to help!”

They started running away from the TIE. “Just came to score a little tech for the Black Market!”

“You Loth Rats!”

Sarah tucked the helmet beneath her arm, only stopping when she felt a tug in her mind. Something was wrong . . .

Ezra pushed her out of the way, a few laser bolts hitting the ground right where they’d be standing a few seconds before. She landed in a crouch, instinctively rolling as she hit the ground.

When the smoke cleared, she felt herself smiling slightly at the pilot’s expression of disbelief. She tossed the helmet away, diving out of the way of more laser bolts from the TIE. She looked at Ezra, who shot the TIE head on a couple of times with his electric slingshot before grinning and shooting it into the air. The ball of energy arced in the air before hitting the pilot dead on.

“Well, that was fun.”

Sarah stood from her position on the ground. “Nice shot!”

Ezra grinned again. “Thanks! Now where . . .” He walked over to where the pilot’s helmet lay on the ground and picked it up. “This helmet is property of Ezra Bridger.”

Sarah knocked shoulders with him. “It is now, anyway.” She snickered as Ezra placed the helmet on his head.

“Sir, thank you sir!”

They laughed, turning back to the tower.

The feeling in her mind had been forgotten. For now, at least. She had no idea what she was about to get into.


	3. Spark of Rebellion, Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which stealing a few crates leads to the stars.

Sarah’s comm badge was starting to make itself aware. She knew she would have to acknowledge its existence sooner or later. Most likely sooner than later.

One day, when she thought she was alone, Sarah reached into the pocket she had stashed the comm badge in and pulled it out. She turned it over and over in her hands before tapping it. “Hadwin to _Voyager_.”

Static.

“ _Voyager_ , come in.”

Nothing came through. Sarah didn’t know why she did that, she knew nothing would happen.

She put the Comm Badge away, feeling worse than she did before.

Ezra must have noticed she was in a funk because he started telling her funny stories and was generally being goofy. Sarah enjoyed his enthusiasm and thoughtfulness; it reminded her of how Tom and Harry would joke around with her when she was stressed or in one of her moods.

She started to feel better. She would find a way back, she told herself. No matter how long it took, she would find a way back home.

She never once thought that life on Lothal could change in an instant; she never thought she would drop everything she had on Lothal and join a cause she believed in.

She never once thought that she would fight for a galaxy she barely knew, and she never once thought that she would win.

* * *

Sarah liked watching ships come and go from Capital City. She was getting good at naming the different types. An itchiness had been creeping up on her. Not physically; she was waiting for something to happen. It had gotten peaceful on Lothal, and dare she say, _boring_. On _Voyager_ , life was always exciting. Something interesting would happen before things settled down too much. Here, it was always the same. She wanted to feel adrenaline rushing through her veins, the thrill of excitement and danger.

Even more than that, she longed to see the stars again. Not just from the surface of a planet, but the window of a ship. There was nothing like staring at the stars from inside a starship.

She knew she couldn’t tell Ezra that. He would never understand; Lothal was his home. He had never stepped foot on a ship before, much less another planet.

She sighed. “Either something changes around here,” she said to the wind, “or I’m finding a way off of this rock.”

She didn’t mean it. Not really anyway.

As if on cue, a huge shadow crossed her line of vision from behind her. She looked up to see a ship so _massive_ it could only be one thing.

“Um, Ezra?” She yelled from her spot on the balcony, still staring up.

“Yeah?” He said from inside.

"Uh, a Star Destroyer isn’t something normal around here, is it?”

A clatter sounded from inside the comm tower. Ezra ran outside, craning his neck to see the Star Destroyer. “What’s a Star Destroyer doing here?”

Sarah turned to Ezra. “Wanna go find out?”

Ezra grinned, and soon after their speeder bike left the tower, heading for Capital City.

* * *

“Poor guy.”

Sarah looked down on the Gothal street merchant that Ezra had just saved, feeling kind of bad as Ezra stuffed a few Joguns in his backpack.

“Hey, a kid’s gotta eat.”

She backed up from the edge of the roof, helping Ezra up. “How many did you swipe?”

“Just a few, nothing much.” He shifted his backpack. “C’mon. Cargo’s this way.” He started making his way to the Main Square.

“You do realize that I was the one who found it, don’t you?” She started after him.

“Shh!”

Sarah rolled her eyes.

_“Copy that. We have reached the location and we are standing by.”_

They peeked over the edge of the building, watching confusion ensue.

“What’s the emergency?” One of the officers asked.

“Emergency?”

“You called in a Code Red!”

“I - I’m not sure what you mean. My orders are to get these crates to the Imperial Bootle.”

“Well, get them loaded then!”

Ezra chuckled, resting his chin on his arms. “I almost feel bad for them.”

Sarah looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I said almost.”

Sarah chuckled, sucking in a breath when she felt that feeling in her mind. She looked at Ezra, seeing a look of confusion cross his face.

“Do you feel that?” He asked her.

“Yeah, that was weird.” She stood up, settling her eyes on a figure on the streets below her.

He stood tall, confident. He had his hair secured behind him and carried a blaster on his right hip.

Whatever that feeling was, it seemed to be coming from him.

The figure’s head turned suddenly, causing her to duck behind the building’s concrete railing.

She breathed heavily for a moment before looking back at the street. The man moved closer to them, before stopping just passed a doorway where another figure was leaning.

“What’s he doing?” She asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Ezra responded.

The Man tapped his left leg twice. The Big Figure snapped his eyes open, crossing to the other side of the street. He was Big and Purple, so that’s what she would call him for now.

The Man walked a little further, stopping beside another figure who seemed to be looking at pots. He tapped the holster of his blaster two times, and the figure tapped his holster three times in return. As the Man started walking, the figure turned and started following him from a distance. When the figure walked, she realized that Figure #2 was a woman.

“Interesting.”

The Helmet Lady walked past one of the speeders. She casually tossed something onto it, and Sarah wouldn’t have blinked if the thing hadn’t started beeping. The beeping got quicker and quicker, making her realize it was a _bomb_.

Sarah gasped and shielded her face as it exploded.

“Get those crates out of here! Keep them secure at all costs!”

“All costs, huh?” Ezra said to himself. “I like the sound of that.”

Whatever was in those crates, the Empire wanted them badly, which meant that they needed to get them first.

The sound of blaster fire grabbed her attention as she slowed to a stop on another building. The Man was surrounded by stormtroopers, and didn’t seem to be gaining any ground. Big and Purple emerged from behind the group of stormtroopers and pummeled them in five seconds flat.

Ezra went to jump down, but she held out her hand. “My turn.”

Ezra held up his hands, allowing her to jump down to the one open speeder.

She landed on the speeder, saluting the Man. “Thanks for the help, boys!” She backed up the speeder, ducking under Big and Purple’s fist, and turning past the group of stormtrooper reinforcements. She felt the cargo lurch, and looked back to see Ezra shooting a stormtrooper that had gotten too close for comfort.

“Not bad.”

“Thanks!” She turned around another corner and felt the cargo lurch again. She turned and saw Helmet Lady pointing a gun at her.

“Pretty gutsy move, kid!” Helmet Lady pointed the gun down and shot the connector holding the crates together. “If the big guy catches you, he’ll end you!” She waved as the crate she was on slowed. “Good luck!”

Sarah turned, accelerating the speeder.

“Who was that?” Ezra yelled from behind her.

“No idea!” She yelled back.

She turned another corner to be met with guns pointed at her. _Again_.

“Duck!” Ezra yelled.

“What?”

“Duck!”

She ducked her head, accelerating the speeder. She heard blaster bolts soar overhead, and when she looked up, the stormtroopers were dead on the ground. She glanced behind her; the Man was literally on her tail.

“Who are these guys?” She shouted to the wind.

“Look out!”

Sarah yanked up on the handles, barely clearing the heads of a group of people she was about to run into.

She finally cleared the edge of the city, and was just about to take a breath when she felt a blaster bolt hit the back end of her speeder.

Ezra grunted behind her, grabbing hold of the crate for literal life.

She looked back, seeing smoke stream from the back end of the speeder. “Smoke’s never good! Ezra, climb on behind me!” She scooted forward in her seat allowing Ezra to climb on behind her. “Hang on!” She quickly jerked left on the handles, crossing between the dividers to the other side of the speedway. She dodged a few speeders, accelerating once she was clear, and accelerated even more, when The Man began to pull up beside her on the other side of the speedway.

Once again, just as she was starting to breathe easy, The Man suddenly pulled ahead of her into her lane and screeched to a halt in front of her. She gasped and pulled on the brakes, stopping inches from his speeder.

As she slumped forward, catching her breath, she felt Ezra slump backward dramatically. “Who are you?”

“I’m the guy who was stealing that crate.”

Sarah straightened. “Hey look, we stole this stuff, whatever it is, fair and square.”

“And you made it pretty far,” The Man said. “But I’ve got plans for that crate, so today’s not your day.”

The TIE flying in behind him said otherwise.

“Sorry, but the day’s not over.” She pulled around The Man’s speeder, just out of range of his exploding speeder. She pulled ahead when the smoke cleared, saluting The Man.

“Have a good one!”

When she hit the Grass Lands, she figured she still couldn’t relax.

“Uh, whatever’s in these crates must better be worth it,” Ezra said as they dodged a blast by the TIE.

“It better be worth it!” She shouted back.

A lucky shot from the TIE hit the back end of their speeder, causing it to explode and throw her off. She hit the ground hard, forcing her to roll. She stopped, groaning a bit. She forced herself to stand up, grabbing onto Ezra for balance.

Oh, great, she thought. I probably have a mild concussion.

The TIE circled, heading right for them. She braced herself for the blast that would end them . . .

There was a blast alright, just not from the TIE.

She turned around. Floating in air was a ship, one she was pretty sure they had seen before. Standing in the back of the ship was The Man. “You want a ride?” He asked.

Sarah looked past the ship, noting the four other TIE’s approaching. “Yes please!” She ran towards the ship, The Man helping her up onto the ramp.

She looked back to Ezra, who was still just standing there.

“Kid, you have a better option?” The Man asked, stretching out his hand.

“C’mon!”

Ezra then turned _away from the ship_ , _towards the crate._

“Leave the crate, you’ll never make it!”

She huffed. “Seriously? C’mon, leave it!”

Ezra pressed a button on the crate and started running towards the ship. The ship rose higher into the air, and for a second, she thought that Ezra wouldn’t make it. But then he _jumped_ far higher than anyone should be able to, using the crate to hook himself onto the ramp.

She ran forward, pulling Ezra onto the ramp and helping him drag it into the ship. The ramp closed behind them, locking them in. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was on a ship again! She felt the weight of artificial gravity kick in as they rose higher out of the atmosphere. If she had been alone, she could have imagined she was on the Delta Flyer taking off from some planet in the Delta Quadrant.

But she looked up and saw The Man, Big and Purple, and Helmet Lady staring at her instead.

Big and Purple had taken the lid off of the crate, revealing a whole lot of guns that caught Ezra’s eye. “Whoa! Do you have any idea what these are worth on the black market?” He picked up a blaster, admiring it.

“I do, actually,” The Man said, turning his attention to look at her. He raised an eyebrow.

She did her best to turn invisible. She had felt that look of disapproval from Tuvock before and she didn’t like it.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Big and Purple said to Ezra.

“They’re mine.”

Big and Purple snatched the blaster from Ezra. “If your friend hadn’t gotten in our way.”

“Too bad, we got to them first.”

The Man pulled the two apart. “It’s not who’s first, it’s who’s last.” He headed for a ladder on the left wall. “Keep an eye on our new friends here.” He climbed up the ladder, a panel sliding closed behind him.

As everything settled down a bit, she felt her head start pounding. She winced and slid down to the floor, resting her head on the walls.

Ezra and Big and Purple were arguing still, and we’re getting louder. It was making her headache worse. She stood up, heading over to the arguing pair. “Hey, could you two - “

The ship lurched, causing her to cross into the path of Big and Purple. She collided into him, almost causing him to fall. “Oi, watch it!”

Her headache was making her angry. She normally would have just apologized and moved on, but unfortunately she spoke her mind. “I wouldn’t have to watch it if your pilot would fly better!”

“Our pilot is trying to get away from the TIEs that you two put on our tail! And what do you know about flying, anyway?” He asked, getting into her face.

“More than you do, probably.” She groaned. “Ugh. All this racket is giving me a headache.” She got closer to his face, pointing a finger at him. “If you weren’t such a big hairy oaf - “

“You don’t like all the noise in here, eh? Fine. I’ll give you your own room!” He swiped down and grabbed her leg. Her back hit the floor hard, making her headache even worse. Why did she have to speak her mind like that?

“Hey! Let go!”

He tossed her into a closet looking room, closing and locking the door.

She could hear Ezra from the other side.

“Hey! Let her out!”

“If you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll throw you in there too!”

Sarah glanced around the room, smiling when there just happened to be a vent access on the back wall. She grabbed a small screwdriver from one of her pockets and used it to open the vent before climbing in.

_“Zeb, Sabine. Where’s the kid?”_

So that’s what their names were. She made a mental note as she slid herself through the vents.

_“Calm down, chief,”_ Zeb’s voice growled. _“She’s in, uh, here?”_

Well, they had found her out.

_“Zeb, where is she?”_

_“Well, she_ is _still in the ship.”_

_“Oh, she’s_ in _the ship, alright.”_

An orange something suddenly blocked her path. “Hey, Gem!”

She looked up and grinned. “Hey! How’d you get in here?”

“Vent access, same as you. There’s a surprising amount on this ship.”

“Well, at least they don’t know you’re gone, right?”

_“Where’s the other kid?”_

_“He’s right - Karabast! You’ve got to be joking!”_

“They know now,” Sarah shrugged. She slid back so Ezra could crawl in front of her. As she did so, she felt the artificial gravity kick in all the way. She heaved a sigh of relief. She was off of that planet; she was in space!

The vent gave way beneath Ezra, and he fell to the floor below. She crawled to the edge of the vent, resting her head on her arms. “You okay?”

Ezra groaned, heaving himself onto the nearby chair. “Yeah . . .”

She carefully let herself down and out of the vent. She turned to laugh at Ezra some more, but sucked in a breath instead. Instead of sky and clouds outside the window, open space twinkling with stars lay before her. She smiled, leaning forward. “Finally . . .”

Ezra had seen outside the window too. “I’m . . . in space!”

Sarah was getting tired of TIEs and the Empire.

“And I’m about to die!”

_“Shields are holding for now, but you need to give me time to calculate the jump to light speed.”_

Light speed? Was that this galaxy’s version of Warp? Great, she thought. More to learn.

_“Buying time . . . now!”_ Someone on this ship was finally shooting back at the TIEs. If she had been on _Voyager_ , she thought, Tuvok would have obliterated these guys by now.

Speaking of obliteration, she had observed what Ezra was sitting on. It seemed to be a turret of some kind.

As she was reaching for the controls to figure out how they worked, the girl, Sabine she remembered, shoved her and Ezra out of the way, took off her helmet, and started shooting at the TIEs. Sabine seemed to like colors, as her hair was just as colorful as her armor was.

“My name’s Ezra,” he said. His voice sounded flirty. “What’s yours?”

“Ugh. Knock it off!” She shoved Ezra away, only for her to be grabbed by the arm the newly dubbed Zeb.

“My name’s Zeb, you Loth-rats,” he growled. She tried to shrink away from him, but he just pulled her closer.

_“Calculations complete, but we need an opening.”_

“Found one!” Sabine shot at and destroyed another TIE, clearing the way for the ship.

_“Entering hyperspace!”_

The ship then jumped into warp, or hyperspace as the pilot lady had called it. Was hyperspace or light speed, anyway?

She felt a bruise forming on her arm. Ugh.


	4. Spark of Rebellion, Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ezra isn't as alone as he thinks and stormtroopers are stupid.

Zeb was currently pulling them along a corridor in the ship.

Ezra wasn’t that thrilled about it. “Let go! You can’t keep us here!”

Sarah was conveniently right where she wanted to be, so she didn’t say anything.

“Take us back to Lothal!”

Zeb had taken them to the cockpit of their ship, where another lady was sitting flying the ship. “Calm down. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”

“Um, now?” Sarah asked, concerned. “With the Empire chasing us?”

“We lost the TIEs when we jumped, and the _Ghost_ can scramble its signature so they won’t recognize us when we return.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.”

Ezra seemed to agree. “That’s pretty cool . . . So just drop us and our blasters outside Capital City and - “

The door slid open as Sarah deflated. Just as she thought Ezra was coming around. . . .

“They’re not your blasters,” Sabine said.

“And we’re not going back to Capital City,” The Man continued. “The job’s not done.”

* * *

It was almost dawn on Lothal when they landed. Sarah walked outside and looked around. A small village was settled at the base of the hill they settled on. Wherever they had landed, she didn’t recognize it.

The Man and Pilot Lady walked away from the village with the crate of blasters.

“Where are they going?”

Sarah elbowed Ezra and sent him a look of displeasure.

“If I told you I’d have to kill you,” Zeb said as he walked past with two red crates. “Oh, and I might just kill you anyway.”

Sabine was close behind him with another crate. “Grab a crate, pull your weight.”

As Ezra went to go back to grab the last crate, she stepped closer to the village. Calling it a village was being generous. It was just a bunch of shacks hastily thrown together. She had read about this place: Tarkintown, founded by people thrown off of their land by the Empire.

She felt bad for those people. At least she had a real place to stay, and food to eat. These people had almost nothing.

Ezra came next to her with his crate. “You coming?”

She shook her head. “Nah, I’ll stay here. You can go on ahead.”

“If you say so.” Ezra walked a little faster and caught up with Zeb and Sabine.

She sat down on the ramp with her knees pulled to her chest as the sun came up. Ezra later came back up the hill with his empty crate, a thoughtful look on his face, and sat down on it for a while, facing the village.

After making sure Ezra wasn’t looking, Sarah pulled out her Comm Badge, gently wiping off the dirt that had gotten on its surface. She wanted to pin it on her chest again so badly.

She sighed, clenching her fist loosely and letting it drop.

What was she even doing here? She had no purpose, and even if these people did find her a ship and let her go off on her own - unlikely - she would have no idea of how to find the way back to her universe.

She pulled her legs closer, closing her eyes. She calmed down and found herself going through a couple of Tuvock’s breathing exercises. She cleared her mind and pictured black. Just the color black. It helped when she was stressed or sad back on _Voyager_ to just take a break and forget about everything for a moment.

She felt that feeling in her again, only it was stronger this time, not just a little instinct. She looked up, a little surprised. Standing up, she looked around a bit before realizing it was leading her into the _Ghost_.

“Alright then.”

She walked into the ship, climbing the ladder that lead to the cockpit. She looked around a bit before the feeling tugged her further into the ship. She followed it to the first door on her left. She pressed a key and the door slid open. She stepped into the room, taking in the bunk on the opposite wall and a table with a few tools on her right. The room seemed to be Pilot Lady’s room. The door slid closed behind her, so she went and sat on the bottom bunk.

“Okay. You brought me here, whatever you are, so what now?”

As if the feeling was answering her, it tugged her to a panel on the back wall behind the bunk. She felt around with her hands a bit before feeling a crack in the paneling. She stuck her fingers in the wall and pulled it off, revealing a small nook in the ship.

She raised an eyebrow. She would never have found this if it hadn’t been for the feeling, whatever it was. She grabbed the small box that was in the nook. She turned around and sat back on the bed. The box was so small, it could fit in her pocket. She flipped open the lid, finding two items, the first was a small disk that probably contained information the Pilot Lady didn’t want anyone to know. She shrugged, placing it back in the box.

The second was far more interesting to her. It was a blue crystal. It was just as small as the disk was, but that wasn’t the most interesting part.

She could hear it; it was _singing_ to her.

She was pretty sure crystals couldn’t sing, so she was pretty sure she was going crazy. But who knew what was normal in this galaxy? For all she knew, singing crystals could be normal.

The sound of a door sliding open - not the door to the Pilot Lady’s room, thankfully - snapped her back to the present. She quickly tucked the crystal in a pocket, putting the panel back in its place. She walked to the door and opened it.

_Crud muffins_.

Ezra was in The Man’s room with a sheepish look on his face, as he had been caught by no other than Pilot Lady and The Man. He was holding something in his hands. This galaxy had swords made out of light now.

Ezra turned off the light sword and gave it to The Man before they turned around and looked at her.

The Man crossed his arms at her, clenching the hilt of the light sword in one hand.

Pilot Lady raised an eyebrow. “What do we have here?”

Sarah looked at the box in her hand. “I was following the weird feeling in my head,” she shrugged. She looked at Ezra, who was nodding his head enthusiastically.

The Man looked up at the ceiling. He looked like he was on the verge of a massive facepalm.

The Pilot Lady put one hand on her hip and held out the other. “Out. Now.”

Sarah put the box in the Pilot Lady’s hand and quickly walked away from the two angry adults.

* * *

Hera Syndulla eyed the young girl as she disappeared into the Cockpit, thinking for a moment before opening the box. She smirked and looked back to Kanan. “The crystal’s gone.”

Kanan sighed. “Now we’ll see.” He looked back towards the cockpit. “Aren’t you gonna tell her to get out?” Kanan asked her.

“Don’t need to.” She looked back to the door for a moment longer. “Didn’t you notice? She didn’t seem too excited when I said we were coming back here. She’s happy to be in space. Whoever she is, she’s seen the inside of a ship before.”

“The boy said that he lived on Lothal his whole life, didn’t he?”

“ _He_ did. He never said anything about _her_. If I had to take a guess, based upon what we’ve seen they’ve only known each other for about a month.”

Kanan rubbed his chin. “You saying you don’t trust her?”

Hera looked back to Kanan. “I’m saying we should keep an eye on her.”

* * *

Sarah sat in the copilot’s chair, staring outside the cockpit windows. Hyperspace was pretty, and in her opinion better than warp. There was only one speed, which made it easier for whoever was piloting the ship. The background noise was just as loud in the cockpit as it was in the common room, which was a plus in her opinion. She loved just sitting in the upper level of Engineering to do homework. The constant hum of the Warp Core helped her focus. Or help her go to sleep; whichever was closest.

She must have fallen asleep, cause the next thing she knew she was feeling a slight nudge on her shoulder.

“Sorry to wake you, but we need you to be alert.”

She opened her eyes and saw Pilot Lady sitting down at the controls. “It's fine.” She looked back to see Ezra spinning in the chair behind her. “What did he do?” She asked Pilot Lady.

“We caught him listening in on our plans for our next mission,” Pilot Lady responded, flipping a few switches.

Sarah chuckled. “That sounds like him.”

“Hey!”

Sarah turned back to Pilot Lady. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

Pilot Lady smiled. “I’m Hera. Hera Syndulla.”

“Gemini . . . Janeway.”

Why she had decided to take Captain Janeway’s name, she didn’t know. It’s not like anyone would know she was lying unless she told them. She had to remember her name from now on: Gemini Janeway.

“Where are we going, anyway?”

Ezra spoke up from behind her. “Going on another _mission_ to rescue Imperial prisoners.” He sighed. “You know, this whole mission thing is nuts. I’m not against sticking it to the Empire, but there’s no way I’d stick my neck out this far. Who does that?”

Hera glanced at him and flipped a few switches. “We do.”

That made Ezra turn his head away in thought. 

Hera brought the _Ghost_ out of hyperspace. In front of them was what Sarah - or Gemini as she should be calling herself now, assumed to be an Imperial ship.

Hera spoke next. “Imperial transport 6-5-1, this is _Starbird_ , coming inbound.”

_“State your business.”_

“Bounty. We captured an additional Wookie prisoner and have transport orders to place him with you.”

_“We have no such orders.”_

Two TIEs detached from the transport and headed toward them.

Gemini forced herself to breathe evenly.

Hera wasn’t concerned in the slightest. “That’s fine. We already got paid by Governor Tarkin. If you don’t want the oversized monon I’ll jettison here. Let you explain to your superiors why the Empire has one less slave.”

_“Permission to dock: bay one.”_

Hera flipped a switch cutting the transmission.

“I never realized you guys were this good,” Gemini said.

Hera just looked at them with a smirk.

The ship jolted a bit, signaling that the two ships had docked. They only waited a few moments before The Man contacted them.

_“We’re in. No troopers. Security’s soft - “_

The transmission cut out suddenly, replaced by static.

“Spectre One, come in. Spectre Four? Spectre Five?” Hera groaned. “Comm’s down.”

Gemini leaned forward. “No, comms don’t just cut out like that.” She looked at Hera. “They’re not down.”

Hera looked to her. “Jammed?”

Ezra looked down behind her. “Something’s coming . . .”

A huge ship suddenly came out of hyperspace.

“What is that?!”

“That’s an Imperial Star destroyer!”

“This whole thing was a setup,” Ezra realized.

“It’s beginning to look that way,” Hera agreed. “You two need to board the transport and warn them.”

“What?!” Ezra said. “Why don’t you do it?”

“I need to be ready to take off or none of us stands a chance.”

“No! No way.”

She sighed, standing up. “Ezra c’mon!”

“No! Why would I risk my life for a bunch of strangers?”

“Because Kanan risked his for you!” Hera responded. “If all you do is fight for your own life, then your life is worth nothing.”

Gemini put her hand on Ezra’s shoulder. “They need us, Ezra. They’ll never stand a chance against an ambush like this!” She glanced up at the Star Destroyer getting closer, then looked back down at Ezra. “Ezra please.”

Ezra didn’t respond. He only looked up at the Star Destroyer, deep in thought.

“Listen,” Hera started. “Our crew boarded that transport to selflessly rescue Imperial prisoners. They have no idea they’re walking into a trap, no idea what’s coming!”

Gemini huffed. “Look. You can sit here and sulk, but I’m not just gonna stand by when I can do something.” She paused, looking Ezra in the eyes. “I’m going. You can stay here if you want.” She turned and made her way down to the airlock. She was about to start running through the transport when -

“Take a left at the second junction!” Ezra ran past her and stopped, looking back. “You coming?”

Gemini grinned and quickly followed him. They turned a couple more times before Gemini heard Zeb’s gruff baritone.

“It’s a trap! We gotta get out of here!”

“Stop! It’s a trap!”

They took a left and ran into the newly dubbed Kanan and Zeb. “Karabast! Kids are blowin’ another Op!”

“It’s not an Op, it’s a trap!” Gemini said as she tried to catch her breath. “Hera sent us to warn you.”

The door to the brig slid open, revealing a whole lot of stormtroopers.

“Run!” The group took off running, and Gemini heard the sound of Ezra’s slingshot colliding with the door controls.

“We need to warn Sabine and Chopper,” Ezra said as they ran, “But they’ve jammed the comms.”

“They’ll follow the plan,” Kanan reassured, “it’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, cause the plan’s gone just great so far.”

They ran a bit farther and turned down a long corridor. At around the same time, a group of Imperials turned into the same corridor on the opposite end.

“Uh, Kanan?” Gemini said, concerned.

“Don’t stop! Push off now!”

Gemini realized a split second before the artificial gravity turned off what was about to happen. She pushed herself forward and into the air as the gravity disengaged. She found herself ahead of Zeb and Ezra but behind Kanan. She latched onto a support beam and used it to launch herself forward. She was suddenly glad she took that elective on zero-gravity combat at Starfleet Academy. She used her momentum to yank the blaster from a trooper in her way and shoot him in the chest. She tossed the blaster away, reaching out for Kanan.

“Kanan!”

He took her hand and launched her toward the door to the corridor. She used her hands to push her away from the bulkhead and in the direction Zeb and Ezra were heading in. She found herself keeping pace with Kanan, who had passed Ezra and Zeb.

“You’re doing well,” He told her. 

“Thanks!”

Kanan smirked at her. “You doing okay, Kid?” He called behind him.

“You kidding?”

Kanan stopped holding onto a bulkhead above him. “Get ready!”

She nodded, righting herself.

“Now!”

The gravity suddenly kicked in, and she dropped to the ground and almost instantly started running after Kanan, who had reached Sabine.

“Where are the Wookies?” Sabine asked.

“No Wookies. Sabine, man the nose gun. Chop, tell Hera to take off.”

“Uh, right!”

Zeb pushed her out of the way, causing her to trip over her own feet and fall to the ground. She huffed and started to get up . . .

. . . only to be shoved to the ground by a stormtrooper. She looked to the airlock, which was only a few steps away, where Zeb was just about to enter the Ghost. Another Imperial had grabbed Ezra by his backpack and was holding him in a headlock. Two other troopers came next to them and opened fire at Zeb.

“Kid, get out of the way!”

“I’m trying!”

She looked at Zeb, who honestly looked like he was looking for an opening but couldn’t find one. Her scared eyes met Zeb’s sorry ones. He sent her a silent apology before turning back to Ezra. “Sorry, Kid! You two did good.” The airlock slid shut.

She turned back to the stormtrooper who had knocked her to the ground, only to be met with a blaster about a foot from her face.

Getting teleported to another galaxy, meeting a street rat and a band of Rebels, and now getting captured by the Dictatorship that is the Empire. Just another average month in the life of Sarah Griffin, Starfleet Cadet.

* * *

As it turns out, Imperial Brigs are nothing like Starfleet brigs. Black walls, black floors, with just the right amount of blood-red to set the mood.

Gemini sat in the corner of the bed/bench thing in the cell, resting her eyes. Ezra was sitting more in the middle. They hadn’t said a word to each other since they had been nabbed. She could feel a bit of resentment radiating from Ezra, so she decided not to say anything.

The door to their cell slid open. Sideburns, the Imperial that had nabbed Ezra, stepped into their cell. “I’m Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau. And you are?”

“Jabba the Hut.”

Gemini just closed her eyes again and laid her head back on the bulkhead.

“Look, we just met those guys today. We don’t know anything.”

“You’re not here for what you know, Jabba. You’re here to be used as bait upon our return to Lothal.”

“Bait? You seriously think - wow. You’re about as bright as a binary droid. They’re not going to come for us. People don’t do that.”

Gemini opened her eyes and looked sadly at Ezra. Did he really think that?

Agent Kallus turned from them and climbed back up the stairs. “Search him, then secure them here.”

The two stormtroopers that had been standing outside the cell came in, heading towards Ezra, who put his hand on his backpack protectively. One trooper yanked it from his hand, sending Ezra sprawling on the ground.

Gemini stood up, angry. “Hey! Stop that -“

The second trooper pointed his blaster at her, silencing her. All she could do was glare daggers at the troopers as the other one yanked Ezra’s electric slingshot off his wrist. The two troopers left as quickly as they came, the door sliding shut behind them.

“‘You need to go warn them, Ezra.’”

Gemini huffed. “It’s not my fault, you know.”

Ezra turned his voice high and squeaky. “‘I’m not just gonna stand by when I can do something!’”

Gemini groaned, sitting back on the bunk and crossing her arms. “You’re the one who decided to leave the Ghost!”

“What was I thinking.” Ezra sighed, pulling a cube thing from a back pocket. “And of course the only thing I manage to hold on to is this worthless piece of - “ He groaned in frustration and threw the cube across the room. He stared at the thing angrily.

Gemini sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened, but being angry isn’t going to help our current situation.” He looked at her, still kind of angry. “Just try to calm down. Clear your mind.”

Ezra sighed, took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and clasped his hands together. He simply breathed in for a few moments before the feeling in her mind came back. She looked at the cube thing in confusion, her eyes widening when a corner of the cube _moved_. She stared at it, looking back at Ezra when another corner moved.

She took in a deep breath, deciding to focus on the cube. The cube then rose into the air, all the corners unhooking themselves from the cube. She inched backward until her back hit the wall. “Uh, Ezra?”

He opened his eyes, gasping when he saw what was going on with the cube.

The center of the cube glowed blue, and a hologram of a bearded man dressed in long robes appeared on top. “This is Master Obi-wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi: Trust in the Force.”

————————

“Stormtroopers are dumb, Gem. It’ll work!”

“Are you kidding me? If this works, stormtroopers aren’t just dumb, they’re downright stupid.”

“Keep your voice down!”

“Why is there a space under the stairs anyway? And you keep your voice down!”

Ezra groaned. “You ready or not?”

Gemini sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Ezra cleared his throat, then started speaking louder than necessary. “You bucket heads are gonna be sorry when my uncle, the _Emperor_ finds out you’re keeping us here against our will! I guarantee he’ll make a personal . . . example . . .” Ezra dissolved into an extremely fake-sounding cough slash gag thing, then stared pointedly at her.

She screamed bloody murder for effect. “Help, somebody! I think he’s dying!”

The door, to her surprise, slid open, and the stormtroopers guarding their cell rushed down the steps right past them. She peeked her head out of the crawl space behind the stairs and quickly followed Ezra up the stairs.

“Bye, guys,” Ezra saluted, quickly shutting and locking the door. He sighed, proud of himself, and started walking down the corridor. “There should be a closet nearby where they stashed my stuff.” He turned to Gemini who was walking beside him. She was staring at him in shock. “What?”

“That worked.”

“We’re not inside the cell, aren’t we?”

“I’m honestly surprised that worked.”

“I can see that.”

Gemini shook her head, mumbling to herself. Ezra was seriously going to be the death of her.

Ezra finally found the room his stuff was in. She quickly walked past the racks of blasters to the back wall of helmets. She reached past the smaller-looking white helmets to the larger black helmets behind them. She picked one up and put it on. She looked at Ezra, who had the same idea. She tweaked the receiver on the helmet a bit before picking something up.

_“The delay was insignificant. The transport ship Agent Kallus diverted will dock on Kessel within two hours. The Wookies will be off-worlded to Spice Mine K-76 - “_

Weren’t the prisoners they had been trying to rescue called Wookies?

Well this was convenient.

_“This is stormtrooper LS-005 reporting to Agent Kallus.”_

_“Kallus here.”_

_“Sir . . . the prisoners are gone.”_

_“What?! How did they get aboard?!”_

_“Sir, the Rebel’s didn’t free them. They, uh - “_

_“Agent Kallus, there’s a security breach in the lower hangar.”_

Gemini felt a nudge on her shoulder. She looked up to see Ezra heading for a vent in the corner of the room. She quickly jumped in after him.

_“I don’t know how, but the Rebel ship approached without alerting our sensors.”_

Ezra started to jump in excitement - “They came back!” - only to hit his head on the ceiling. “Ow! Ugh. I don’t believe it.”

This poor kid thought that people don’t come back? She sighed mentally. He learned to never trust anyone. No wonder Ezra lived alone.

_“Order all stormtroopers to converge on the lower hanger. I’ll meet them there.”_

Ezra suddenly cleared his throat, activating the comm in his helmet. He spoke with a comically fake man voice. “This is trooper LS-123, reporting intruders in the upper hanger. Sir, I believe the lower hanger is a diversion.”

_“Maybe, maybe not. Squads five through eight converge on the upper hanger. The rest converge as ordered.”_

Ezra deactivated his comm. “Well, every little bit helps.” He continued crawling, taking a right turn.

Gemini followed, taking off the helmet and leaving it in the vent behind her. “I have a question. Are you talking to yourself or me?”

“Uh, I’m just thinking out loud.”

“Okay, cause talking to yourself is a sign that you’re going crazy, right?”

“Yeah. Just thinking out loud.” Ezra chuckled nervously to himself.

She stopped suddenly. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Shh!”

Familiar sounding voices sounded from the corridor below them. “

“. . . till we get back.”

“And this time, try not to leave until _everyone’s_ back aboard.”

“That was not my fault!”

By that time, Ezra had unscrewed the vent hatch. “Well, that’s debatable.” He jumped down to the corridor.

Looking back, Gemini didn’t know why she didn’t expect Zeb to do something rash like punch him, but when he did, it surprised her.

“Hey!” She lowered herself down to the corridor.

Ezra took off his helmet angrily and began yelling at Zeb. “First you ditch us, then you hit me?”

“How was I supposed to know it was you? You were wearing a bucket!”

She put her hands on her hips. “I didn’t know bright orange jumpsuits were the latest fashion in the Galactic Empire.”

Did she mention she hated how the Empire was master of convenient timing?

Right, she was running again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. At least she was getting her exercise in for the next few years.

“Spectre One to Ghost. We’re leaving!”

She quickly ran up the Ghost’s ramp and up the ladder to the balcony overlooking the cargo bay.

“Ghost, raise the ramp!”

The ramp closed, and the ship quickly flew out of the hangar. Once they were clear, Gemini felt the ship jolt as it jumped to warp - uh, hyperspace. She had to remember to call it that.

* * *

Later, Ezra headed up to the cockpit where Hera was. Gemini followed behind him, stopping just before she fell into his line of sight so she could listen in to the conversation.

“Welcome aboard, again.”

“Thanks . . . Thank you. I really didn’t think you’d come back for us.”

“I’ll get you home now. I’m sure your parents are worried sick.”

Ezra got quiet. “I don’t have parents.”

Hera spoke up quietly after a few moments. “Gemini?”

The way Hera said it made Gemini think she was almost afraid of the answer.

Ezra sighed. “She might as well not have any either.”

Her voice was still quiet. “What do you mean?”

“I found Gemini in the Main Square in Capital City. She was being questioned by some stormtroopers. She just looked so lost and scared that I - I couldn’t just stand there and not do something, so I pretended to be her brother and got her out. I called her the first name that came to mind: Gemini. It wasn’t until later that I found out that she had lost her memory.”

Hera sucked in a breath. “So even if she did have parents - “

Gemini sighed and stepped to Ezra’s side. “It’s not like I would remember them anyway.”

Ezra turned to her, wide-eyed. “I’m sorry, I - “

“It’s okay, Ezra. They would have found out eventually. And they’ve got somewhere else to be, remember?”

Ezra let out a breath, still not satisfied, but decided to move past it. “Right.”

Kanan and Sabine moved past them into the cockpit and took their seats.

Ezra continued. “We know where they’re really taking the Wookies. Have you heard of the Spice Mines of Kessel?”

Everyone straightened in their seats, and no-one said anything for a few moments.

Sabine spoke up first. “Slaves sent there last a few months, maybe a year.”

“And for Wookies, born in the forest, it’s a death sentence,” Hera finished.

Ezra spoke for the both of them. “Then I guess we’d better go save ‘em.”

Everyone turned to them simultaneously. “We?”

“We’ve come this far,” Gemini said. “Might as well finish the job.”

Hera turned to the front of the ship and started pressing buttons. “Setting course for Kessel.”

* * *

Kanan let his gaze linger on the pair of teens for a few moments. Both of them had averted their eyes. Ezra had crossed his arms and was nervous, but Gemini was fiddling with something in one of her pockets. He let himself reach out with the Force, only to be surprised. She wasn’t nervous at all, quite the opposite. She was calm and determined, and after looking a little deeper, he felt excitement and belonging.

When Gemini suddenly looked up at him, he quickly withdrew into himself and turned away.


	5. Spark of Rebellion, Pt. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Wookies are fuzzy and Gemini makes a decision.

Gemini was starting to get used to being shot at by stormtroopers. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

Also, Wookies were cute.

And fuzzy.

And strong.

And hated the Empire.

She liked Wookies.

After Ezra had freed the Wookies and they had helped out by pretty much destroying the remaining stormtroopers, a TIE fighter had appeared behind the Ghost and had started shooting at it. Hera managed to destroy a TIE, but the Empire wasn’t done. A transport rose out of the smoke, and before she knew it, she was on the ground. Her ears were ringing, and the sound was muffled around her. Someone pulled her up, and she was running before she had fully risen from the ground. She looked to see Ezra pulling her from the huge squad of Stormtroopers firing at them.

She heard a small cry above the noise, and saw a small Wookie starting to run from a stormtrooper, but Ezra had pulled her behind some crates before she could do anything.

_“I can’t maintain position!”_

“Go!” Kanan told Hera. “Lead the TIE’s away and give yourself maneuvering room.”

_“I am not leaving you behind!”_

Kanan paused for a second. “No you’re not. We’re running a 22-pickup.”

“Seriously?” Sabine asked.

“You have a better option?” Kanan retaliated.

“Jump into the pit and get it over with,” Zeb suggested.

“ _Alright. I’ll be back. Make sure you’re ready.”_

Ezra spoke up from behind her. “22-pickup? Care to let me in on the secret?”

Kanan turned to him. “Kid, I’m about to let everyone in on the secret.” He then stepped over the containers and towards the squad of troopers and Agent Kallus. They continued firing, but Kanan simply moved his head, dodging the shots like it was nothing.

The tingling in her head came back, and it seemed to be surrounding Kanan.

The squad stopped firing. Kanan then pulled out the lightsaber, locking the two pieces together, and ignited it. He pointed it towards Kallus before gripping it with both hands by his side.

Everyone around her had straightened in surprise. Even she had inhaled a breath and tried to get a better look.

The way he held that lightsaber, the way he carried himself; he wasn’t just a guy with a laser sword, and Kallus knew it too. Before he even knew what he was saying, he commanded the troopers, “Focus your fire on - on the Jedi.”

Jedi - weren’t all the Jedi wiped out by the Empire when it came to power?

Apparently not, since there was a real-life Jedi deflecting the bolts of energy thrown at him like it was nothing right in front of her.

Kanan turned his head. “Time to go!”

“Right. Everyone, into the container!”

Zeb began helping, well more like dragging one of the older Wookies towards the container. That smaller Wookie must have been his son.

She looked back in the direction the little Wookie had gone. She huffed to herself before running in the direction that he had gone, ignoring Zeb’s calls behind her.

Ezra must have had the same idea, cause he was right behind her as they started down a long catwalk.

“Hey!” She stopped and crouched, letting the tingling feeling take over for an instant. She jumped up and over the stormtrooper, an impossible jump that she couldn’t have made on her own.

As soon as the trooper’s back was turned, Ezra landed three quick shots on the stormtrooper, sending him over the side. Ezra looked over the Wookie’s cuffs before taking a tool out of his pocket and unlocking the cuffs. She smiled at the Wookie, who sent her a grateful look in return.

“It’s over for you, Jedi.” They turned to see Agent Kallus stalking towards them, a blaster in hand. “A Master and an Apprentice are such a rare find these days. Siblings, however, are rarer still.”

“I don’t know where you get your delusions, bucket-head,” Ezra responded. “I work alone.”

“Not this time.” The Ghost rose from the chasm, with Kanan standing atop it.

She didn’t know why she was so shocked, honestly.

Kallus fired a few quick shots at Kanan, but was hit by a deflected bolt and sent over the side as well.

They soon jumped over the side onto the ship, and found their way into the Ghost.

* * *

Gemini didn’t stay for the reunion between father and son. She was sure it was touching, but didn’t want to deal with all the touchy-feely emotions at that moment.

She had fled to the cockpit; for some reason, the stars made her feel safe. She was sitting in the co-pilot’s chair with her knees to her chest, turning the crystal over in her fingers.

The ship jolted, signaling that they had detached from the Wookie ship.

The doors to the cockpit slid open after a moment. She didn’t take the time to see who it was. Not like she needed to, anyway. Hera sat down in the pilot’s seat. The seat behind her squeaked, signaling that someone, most likely Kanan, had claimed it.

No-one said anything. The silence was uncomfortable, and felt like it was waiting for someone to say something.

Gemini broke the silence, asking the question that had bugged her since those few seconds back in the cell. She turned to Kanan. “What’s the Force?”

He straightened. “The Force is everywhere. It flows through everything and everyone in this galaxy. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. And it’s strong in you, Gemini.”

She thought for a moment. “So, it was the Force that led me to this?” She held up the crystal.

It was Hera that straightened this time. “How did you get that?”

“It was with the data disk. It was singing.” She looked down at it. “It still is.”

And it was. Even though the song was softer than it was when she first found it, it still sang.

Kanan rubbed his chin. “This is happening a lot sooner than I expected.”

She let her feet drift down to the floor. “Is something wrong?”

“No, not at all! I just wasn’t expecting you to find a Kyber Crystal so soon.” He looked back up to see the look of utter confusion on Gemini’s face, and sighed. “Sorry, let me explain. A Kyber Crystal is what powers a lightsaber. It focuses the energy into the top of the hilt, forming the saber itself. Each Krystal has a unique connection to the Force that only one Jedi in the universe can sense.”

“Which is why I could hear it singing when no-one else could.”

“Exactly, but most Force-wielders don’t find their crystals until much later.”

Gemini paused for a second. “Then why did I find mine so soon?”

“I don’t know.”

No-one said anything for a few moments, but Gemini broke the silence. “I guess we’re heading back to Lothal now?”

Hera nodded, still in thought.

She took a deep breath. “I want to go with you.”

That made Hera’s eyebrows jump up in surprise. “Why’s that?”

“It doesn’t feel right. I know it’s Ezra’s home, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, but if I’m being honest, I can’t stay there anymore. I can’t just sit still, especially not now when I know just how cruel the Empire is.”

Hera looked at her. “There isn’t any other reason?”

She looked at the crystal again before looking up at Hera. “I don’t know who I am, Hera. I don’t know where I belong in this universe. The only connection I have with my past is the Force.” She looked at Kanan. “And you’re the only person who can help me find myself.”

Kanan’s eyes softened and he put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll do my best.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“We will find where you came from, Gemini. That’s a promise.”

Looking back, Gemini realized just how truthful her statement had been without her knowing it.


	6. Droids in Distress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an astromech learns of a few allies and Gemini gets the chills.

The smell of fresh paint had permanently taken up residence in her nose. Not that she didn’t enjoy rooming with Sabine, she was just very pushy when it came to information. If Gemini heard one more “So where are you from, again?” from Sabine, she was pretty sure she was going to die. She was getting tired of saying “I don’t remember” three to four times a day. She was at that point where she felt like standing in the middle of the corridor and saying, “Just so everyone is aware, I don’t remember anything before waking up on Lothal, so my answer to any and all of your questions is going to be ‘I don’t know,’” very loudly so everyone could hear.

When Kanan said he was going to help her understand the Force and find herself, she expected him to actually make an effort to help her. So far, hours spent on Jedi Training for both her and Ezra combined was a grand total of zero. Kanan hadn’t said a word about it, so either he had forgotten about it, or was trying really hard to ignore it.

And besides, she told herself, he might just be concentrating on blowing up those TIEs that were after them.

_“I don’t have a shot!”_ He fired off a few more shots, but didn’t hit anything.

“Chopper, you have the coordinates?” Hera turned to their resident droid, who warbled from his spot.

“What did he say?” Zeb asked.

“He said, ‘Hello hyperspace.’”

“That’s not what he said.”

The ship jolted into hyperspace, and Gemini heaved a sigh of relief as she leaned back into her corner where she stood.

Kanan came into the cockpit. “Told you we’d get away.”

“With the shipment,” Sabine spoke up. “You said we’d get away with the shipment.”

“Kanan, we’re low on everything,” Hera said.

“Food.”

“Explosives.”

“Fuel. We need to make some money or we might as well put the _Ghost_ in storage.”

Kanan thought for a moment. “There’s always Vizago’s job.”

“Oh, so we’re arms dealer’s again?” Zeb sounded less than thrilled with the idea.

“More like arms re-distributers.”

“Come on. We don’t even know what kind of weapons we’re talking about here.”

Ezra spoke up next. “Hey, if it puts food on the table and frees up some time for, I don’t know, Jedi training, then I’m in.”

Kanan shoved Ezra back into his chair with a smirk, then turned to Hera. “You game?”

“Say I am. What then?”

“I already know the mission. Let’s head to the spaceport.”

* * *

Turns out, Kanan could make pretty impressive plans when he put enough brainpower into the thought process.

She was seated in the fourth row of one of the seating sections on the transport, her head laid back and her eyes closed. She was pretending to be trying to sleep, and it really wasn’t that hard. She hadn’t been getting a good night’s sleep lately, so pretending to sleep was the best job she could be given. Ezra had been jealous.

Chopper was doing his job of annoying Ezra well, and Gem could tell he was enjoying it.

The two droids were translating for Minister Tua, which alone was annoying enough, and Chopper was annoying Ezra, which would have added to her frustration if she had actually been trying to sleep.

“Would you cut it out! You have plenty of room. Stop crowding me!” She opened her eyes, feigning annoyance, which really wasn’t that difficult.

Kanan stood up. “Kid, how about you get that rust bucket under control.”

“Mind your own business.” Ezra promptly got shocked again.

She finally stood up and made it sound like she was clearly annoyed. “Hey, pilot! Isn’t there some regulation or something against droids in the passenger area?”

The pilot droid let out an artificial sigh. “I am sorry sir, but your astromech must proceed to the back of the craft.”

“Hey, if my astromech’s banished, then those two astromechs are banished too!”

She huffed, crossing her arms. “That’s fine by me.”

The gold droid spoke up. “Astromech, me? I have never been so insulted. I’ll have you know that I am a protocol droid fluent in over six million forms -“

“Pilot,” Minister Tua interrupted, “these two droids are with me, and I am on Imperial business.”

“Sorry, ma’am. But these are Imperial regulations.”

“But, Minister - “

“I can’t risk an incident spoiling these negotiations. Go!”

The two droids headed for the back of the craft, the protocol droid mumbling about how he was humiliated and how astromechs ruin everything.

If she was being honest, she really tuned out the rest of the trip. She had actually gotten in a few winks, and they really made all the difference. She woke up from her nap when the pilot had announced they were approaching Garell. She stood from her chair, stretching a little and doing her best to ignore Kanan’s less than subtle smirk he was sending her way.

She walked out of the transport, heading in the direction that Kanan had run off in. Ezra had tried to get Kanan to let Gem go with him, but Kanan said that would have seemed too suspicious. She walked leisurely in what hopefully was toward Bay Seven. She was getting the hang of Arubesh, but was having trouble distinguishing seven and seventeen. Ezra had explained the difference more times than she could care to count, but she still had trouble.

Her comm link activated, and Ezra’s annoyed voice streamed through. _“I thought Kanan was going to teach us Jedi stuff. So far, all we’re doing is thieving. And I already know how to do that.”_

She sighed. “I know you’re frustrated Ezra, believe me, but for now, just focus on getting to Bay Seven and opening that door. The sooner you do that, the sooner we get paid, the sooner we can start bugging Kanan.”

Ezra sighed. She could hear him rolling his eyes. _“So I steal to survive. Got it.”_

As she approached the doors to Bay Seven, Kanan turned to her with a look of concerned interest on his face. He met her halfway, just out of earshot of Sabine and Zeb. “Are you alright?”

“Is this about me sleeping on the transport? I was just getting in a couple of minutes that’s all.”

Kanan folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. “I haven’t been sleeping well the past couple of days, that’s all. I didn’t think it would affect anybody.”

“It’s affecting you, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t want to bother you. You’ve just been so busy and I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

Kanan sighed. “I know we haven’t been training much lately - “

“If ‘haven’t been training much’ means not at all, then yeah,” she deadpanned.

Kanan shrugged his shoulders, smiling a little. “Alright, I’ll give you that one.”

Gem’s face fell, and she tried to hold back a yawn.

Kanan sobered. “But truthfully, I know some meditation techniques that could really help.”

Gemini sighed. It wasn’t that often that Tuvock’s techniques failed her; she was willing to try anything at this point. “Thanks, Kanan.”

He smiled, and they walked back to Sabine and Zeb.

_“Alright, I’m in Bay Seven.”_ The door opened a few seconds later.

Zeb walked forward, clapping his hands. “Well kid, you pulled it off.”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

“Yes.”

Gem laughed at Ezra’s face. “C’mon, kid.” They walked over to the pile of crates in the center of the bay.

_“Do we know exactly what Vizago has us stealing yet?”_ Hera asked from the Ghost

Zeb opened a crate, then dropped the lid as if it had turned red hot in his hands. He staggered back, breathing heavily. “Karabast . . .”

She looked at him, concerned. What was in these crates?

Sabine picked up a some sort of blaster from a crate. “Whoa! They’re T-7 Ion Disrupters. These were banned by the Senate. You can short circuit an entire ship with these.”

Zeb was still shaken. “That’s not why they were banned . . .”

What did he mean by that?

Kanan took the disrupter from Sabine, placed it in its crate, and practically slammed the lid on. “Get them aboard before company comes.” He turned to her. “Let’s get to the Ghost.”

“But - “

“Now!”

“Uh, right.” She turned and ran to the Ghost, stopping at the top of the ramp. Kanan stopped behind her.

Sabine had pushed her pile of crates almost the whole way, and Ezra and Zeb were about halfway when Kanan turned and slid down the ramp. “Hurry! We’re running out of - “

“Times up!”

Sabine, Zeb, and Ezra stopped in their tracks.

“Hands up!”

Zeb simply smirked, raised his hands, and started towards the stormtroopers. The gold droid started translating, but they were slightly too far away for her to hear what they were saying.

“Stay here!” He whispered to her. He turned to Sabine and gestured to the Ghost before running out to Ezra.

By the time she had finished helping Sabine get the crates inside the Ghost, Zeb had started a fight with the stormtroopers. Ezra started heading towards them, and she ran out to help him get the crates inside the Ghost.

_“Spectre 1 to Ghost. We’re good to go!”_

_“Going.”_

She felt the Ghost take off as she pushed the crates to the corner of the cargo bay. She turned, headed for the cockpit.

“Oh, look!” Sabine gestured to two new droids coming into the Ghost behind chopper. “Chopper made friends.”

Chopper groaned.

“I am C-3PO, and this is my counterpart, R2-D2,” the gold droid began. “I was translating for Minister Tua when we were attacked by thieves like . . .” He trailed off after Zeb and Kanan passed him, sending the droid suspicious looks.

Zeb headed up to the overlook by the Phantom, most likely to do some brooding.

Kanan started dishing out orders. “We have company. Imperial droids. Spectre 5, let’s get a couple of restraining bolts on these two.”

“Yup, on it.” Sabine headed off to get some restraining bolts.

“Spectre 6, Spectre 3, keep an eye on these two.” He gestured for her to follow him to the corner of the cargo bay, out of earshot of the others. “Head up to your room, try to get a couple of minutes of sleep in. I’ll have someone wake you up when we get back to Lothal.” She started to say something, but Kanan cut her off. “That wasn’t a request, Gemini.”

She sighed, smiling up at him. “Thank you.” She climbed up the ladder, and quickly walked up to her room. She kicked off her boots, and was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

* * *

_She was in her quarters on Voyager. She was sitting across from Tuvok, who had a look of intense concentration on his face. He twirled a Kal-toh rod in his hands, observing the mess of jumbled rods in front of him. He carefully placed the rod in the sphere, which did nothing._

_She smirked, laughing slightly._

_Tuvok spoke up. “The object of Kal-toh is not about winning, nor balance, but of finding order among even the most profound chaos.” He gestured to the mess of rods._

_She picked one up carefully, spinning it in her hands. She sighed. “You’ve told me that before, Tuvok.” She looked up, gasping when the form in front of her was no longer Tuvock, but Kanan. He was sitting in the same meditative position as Tuvok had been in._

_He smirked. “Did I?”_

* * *

“Gem!” She jolted awake, sucking in a breath. She looked over to Ezra, who was standing in the doorway. “Sorry to wake you. You okay?”

“Yeah. You just startled me, that’s all.”

“Well, we’re approaching Lothal, so . . .” he trailed off awkwardly.

“Thanks.” She jumped down as Ezra exited the doorway and pulled on her boots. She felt the ship jolt as they landed and hurried down to the cargo hold just before Kanan and Hera, who seemed to be in the midst of a discussion.

“ . . . Can we discuss this later?” Kanan asked.

“That’s fine, love. But we will discuss it.”

Kanan sighed.

The R2 unit chirped to Sabine. “Oh, right. This R2 says its real mission was to make sure the T-7’s never reached the Empire and that his master will pay handsomely for their return.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Zeb spoke up next. “So, we’re not selling the droids, but we’re selling the T-7’s? We don’t even know who Vizago’s buyer is.”

“We know it’s not the Empire,” Kanan responded, “and I already make a deal with Vizago. So let’s get these crates off the boat.”

* * *

Vizago looked like his name sounded, and his voice pretty much screamed “I’m a smuggler.” He picked up a disruptor from the crate. “Oh. I can make some beautiful music with these.”

“They’re not that kind of instruments!” Zeb growled from where he was leaning on a large rock formation.

She decided to lean farther away and picked a spot from which she could see everyone.

“Ah. You just have to know how to play them. And how to play those who want to buy them.”

“You have to buy them from us first,” Ezra said.

“Finally.” He poked Kanan in the chest. “Someone on your crew who understands business.” A few of his droids started unloading the crates.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Gemini’s eyes wandered to the visible horizon, and she deflated when she saw an Imperial transport flying towards them. She was totally not in the mood for this.

“What is this?” Vizago looked through the viewfinder on the disruptor. “You were followed!”

“That’s not possible!” Hera tried to argue.

“Tell it to the Empire!” She moved forward towards Vizago with everyone else. “Leave the rest. We’re gone!” He ordered his droids.

Kanan grabbed his arm. “You haven’t paid us.”

“Cikatro Vizago doesn’t pay for half a shipment,” he said as he climbed onto his speeder. “And he doesn’t pay for trouble with Imperials. My friends, I hope you live to bargain another day. And if you don’t - Eh.” The speeder sped away, quickly putting distance between them and the Imperials.

“Shouldn’t we be going too?” Sabine asked.

“We can’t let these disruptors fall into Imperial hands,” Kanan said. “Sabine, destroy the guns.”

“Ha. Now you’re speaking my language. I’ll go get my gear.” She started towards the Ghost, but stopped when she saw Chopper and the Imperial droids heading towards the disruptors, R2-D2 leading the way.

“R2-D2, stop! What are you doing?” R2 beeped. “Joining the crew?”

R2 beeped some more, Sabine bending down to listen. “Of course. Overload the disruptors and boom! Good call, little guy. You can join our crew anytime.”

“Well, short my circuits.”

Chopper groaned.

The rest of them ran up to the crates. “Hera, Gem, help Sabine open the crates. Zeb, Ezra, line em up.” She helped Hera get the lid off one of the crates as Kanan picked up a disruptor. “Meanwhile, I’ll deal with the walkers.”

A couple of shots rocked the ground, and she ran up behind a nearby rock formation for cover. Kanan shot at a walker with the disruptor, and the walker collapsed after a few seconds. The other walker got a shot in before Kanan could however, causing Kanan to be blown back, the disruptor knocked from his hands. She ran up to another rock formation for cover, farther away from the stormtroopers.

Her eyesight started to get blurry, and her head was spinning. She leaned against the rock for support. I’m not scared, so why do I feel like I’m about to pass out? She thought. She peeked out from behind the rock and spotted Kanan and Ezra reaching out for Zeb, who was charging at the stormtroopers.

She must have blacked out or something because the next thing she knew was that she was backed into a corner in the Ghost cargo hold. Ezra and Hera both had their arms stretched out, almost like they were trying to calm her. She was breathing heavily, and she tried to calm herself but only felt herself getting worse. The Imperial droids were cowering in another corner. “What . . .” Seeing Kanan’s scared look made her legs give out from under her. “I - I can’t . . .” She slid down to the floor of the cargo hold.

Ezra rushed up to her. “Hey. Look at me. Look at me, Gem.”

She forced herself to look at his face. His eyes were soft, and his voice was calm. “Breath, just breathe. In and out, that’s right.”

She followed his instructions, calming down a little bit. She curled her legs up to her chest, shivering. “Kanan, what happened? I’m so cold.”

Ezra helped her up. “Let’s get you up to your bunk and try to warm you up.”

She nodded, allowing Ezra to lead her past Sabine and Zeb. If she had been fully coherent, she would have seen both Sabine and Zeb’s hands head towards their weapons as she passed them.

After Sabine and Zeb followed Ezra and Gemini up the ladder, Kanan leaned up against the wall, deep in thought.

“What just happened?” Hera asked cautiously.

Kanan sighed. “I have an idea,” he admitted. “Maybe if we figure out why she has amnesia, we can . . .” he trailed off.

“One day at a time, love.” Hera put a hand on his shoulder. “One day at a time.”


	7. Fighter Fight; or, Boys are Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ezra and Zeb make up(?), and Gemini learns what happened.

Gemini stayed in her room for the next couple of days, doing everything possible to avoid contact with the Ghost crew. She laid on her bunk with her back to the room. Whenever Sabine came into the room, all she would see was Gemini’s back, and wouldn’t talk to her. She knew that Gem wasn’t asleep, but decided to leave her be.

After a few days of solitude in her room, Kanan and Hera decided that she had done enough sulking. What they needed was a good distraction to get Ezra and Zeb off of the Ghost for a bit so Kanan could spend some time meditating with Gemini in peace without any ruckus.

Even though she would never admit it, Gem was starting to get tired of sulking in her room. Sabine could tell, as Gemini was starting to get restless, and figured she would be okay if she painted the walls a bit.

“ . . . back here you rolling junk pile!”

It sounded like Ezra and chopper were at it again. Gemini allowed herself to crack a smile.

"Oh, uh, hey, Sabine. I see you’re, uh, painting . . . stuff.”

The little smile on her face grew a little wider.

“Well, nothing gets past you, kid.”

“You know, if you ever need a little inspiration - “

“Yeah. Then I’ll be sure to look elsewhere.”

Chopper said something in his droid language.

“Chopper! Stay out of my room! Uh - Gotta go!” He went into his room, and there was only soft commotion heard from inside. The door opened a few moments later and she heard chopper come out, warbling nervously to himself. Zeb suddenly roared a few seconds later.

“It’s not my fault.”

“Tell it to my fist!”

Gemini took a deep breath. Ok. She had to see this.

Chopper warbled.

“The bolts from Ezra’s bunk?" Sabine said. "Hmm. Needs a little something.”

She quietly jumped from the top bunk, glancing into Zeb and Ezra’s room before heading in the direction of the cargo hold. After reaching the cargo hold’s overlook, she couldn’t help but grin. Zeb and Ezra were a tangle of limbs surrounded by crates strewn all over the floor. Kanan’s bizarre look and Hera’s angry one beside her just completed the scene.

“It’s his fault!” Each pointed at the other, then pulled their version of a pleading look in Hera’s direction.

“My fault? This is your fault.”

“Don’t go blaming this on me.”

“Enough!" Hera interrupted. "This is my ship you’re wrecking, and I want you off it.” As Hera opened the doors, she slid down the ladder, trying to contain her laughter.

Zeb shoved his way past Ezra. “Hera, be reasonable.”

“Come on. You know what he’s like.” Hera handed him a datapad. “Uh, what’s this?”

“A market list. The town of Kothal’s two klicks to the south, and I’m sending you both on a supply run.”

Zeb and Ezra looked at each other. “With him?” They both said.

“With each other. Oh. And don’t even _think_ about coming back without at least one meiloorun fruit. Clear?”

The two sighed. “Clear.” They started down the ramp, still shoving each other out of the way.

Kanan walked up to Hera, watching the two exit the ship. “How do you expect them to find meiloorun on Lothal?”

Hera just smirked. 

Gemini walked up to them. “They don’t grow on Lothal, do they?”

“Nope.” Hera climbed back up the ladder.

Kanan looked at her. “Done sulking?”

She grinned sheepishly. “Yeah.” The grin left her face. She looked to the floor, then back to the pair of boys walking from the ship. She took a breath. “What did I do, Kanan?”

Kanan sighed, sitting down on the ramp. “After Zeb and the Imperial officer started fighting each other, you charged the squad of stormtroopers.”

Her eyes got wide as she sat down next to him. “I did _what_?”

He nodded. “You kicked the first trooper you came across, grabbed his blaster, and shot him. After that, the other troopers focused their fire on you. You shot almost every single one of them before the last tried to run. You dropped the blaster and used the Force on him.”

“What do you mean? Kanan, what did I do to him?”

Kanan sighed. “You lifted him into the air and choked him to death.” Gemini pulled her knees close to her chest as he continued. “The way you moved, how proficient you were with the Force - it was obvious you had been taught. That alone would have concerned me . . .” He sat down next to Gemini before continuing. “ . . . But I saw the look in your eyes. You weren’t using the Force as I had explained it to you.”

Gemini looked at Kanan. “What do you mean?”

“There are two sides to the Force: The Light Side, used by the Jedi; and the Dark Side, used by the Sith.”

“Then was that why I was so cold when I woke up?”

“Yes.”

Gemini didn’t say anything. What if it happened again? What if she hurt anybody? What if she didn’t snap out of it?

Kanan sighed. This wasn’t going as well as he had hoped. “Let’s head inside. I wanna show you something.”

* * *

As it turns out, Gemini was very good at Dejarik. The creatures were a bit weird, but the rules were extremely simple. Their first round ended up with Kanan winning, of course. The next round however ended with a shockingly easy victory for her. Chopper had been watching her and Kanan play and had insisted on playing against Gemini. Something about him retaining his winning streak.

She had two players left. She chose the weaker of the two and allowed chopper to pummel him. Chopper spun his arms around in celebration, humming his victory.

Hera had entered the lounge at this point and was waiting for her to make her move. She smirked, releasing her last player and destroying chopper’s. He let out a few grumbles as he wheeled away.

She let out a sigh of contentment. It was peaceful.

“I have to admit, it’s a lot more peaceful aboard with the kids gone,” Kanan agreed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Hera sat down next to them. “Yeah, but I’m feeling a bit guilty about sending them-“

Kanan chuckled. “On a wild meiloorun chase?”

Hera’s comm activated just then. _“Spectre 4 to Ghost.”_

“Ah, right on cue.” She spoke into the comm. “Go ahead, Spectre 4.”

_“Right. Well, we’ve had a bit of a problem.”_ There seemed to be a bit of background noise in their transmission, Gemini noticed.

“I thought you might. Look, don’t worry about the meilooruns.”

The comm activated again, and this time Ezra was speaking. _“Yeah, meilooruns. Uh, we found some. But we lost them. Then we found them again, but we smashed them.”_

Zeb sighed. _“Just cut to the chase, kid.”_ The background noise flared suddenly, sounding suspiciously like a TIE fighter engine.

“Wait! What am I hearing?” Kanan asked about the background noise, sitting up straighter. “It sounds like-“

_“Yeah, about that,”_ Ezra started. _“See, um . . . well . . . We stole a TIE fighter.”_

Her eyes widened in shock.

Kanan’s eyes widened as well, except he was a bit angrier than her. “You _what_?” He shouted. “Get rid of it!”

_“Do we have to?”_ Ezra and Zeb asked together.

Kanan sighed, facepalming. “At least tell me you dismantled the locater beacon.”

Zeb laughed, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. _“Of course. We’re not fools.”_ He lowered his voice, quietly speaking to Ezra. _“Under there. The red wire. No, wait. The blue.”_

_“Well, which one?”_

“It’s the red _and_ the blue,” Kanan responded. He was exasperated by this point. Gemini was just watching and listening, amused by the whole situation.

_“Right. Got it. I-I mean . . . got a long time ago. You know back when we first boarded. Right away. Immediately.”_

“Stealing a TIE attracts unwanted attention. Rendezvous at Shadow Site 2. Fly straight there. Do not stop. And _don’t do anything_.”

_“On our way. Spectre 4 out.”_

* * *

Hera had flown the Ghost to Shadow Site 2, which had only taken a couple of minutes. Kanan had expected Ezra and Zeb to arrive well before sunset. It was currently sunset, and they still hadn’t arrived yet.

“Ah, they should have been here by now,” Kanan said, concerned.

“Relax, Kanan,” she said. “They can handle themselves.”

“Over there!”

Zeb and Ezra approached Hera, Zeb handing a beautiful looking fruit to Hera. “One fresh meiloorun, as ordered.”

“Thank you, kind sir.”

Zeb bumped Ezra’s shoulder. “Team effort.”

“Forget about the fruit,” Kanan butt in. “Where’s the TIE fighter?”

Zeb sighed. “I crashed it.”

“On purpose,” Ezra clarified. “Uh, we didn’t want it to fall back into the Empire’s hands.” He held up a TIE pilot’s helmet.

Kanan tilted his head, then smirked. “That’s what I like to hear.”

She headed up the ladder to the cabins, curious about what Sabine had been doing all day. She knocked on the door before entering.

“Gem! C’mon in, I’m just about done.”

“With what, exactly?” She looked up to the section of the wall that Sabine was putting finishing touches on. She just took it in for a few seconds before starting to laugh. It was small at first, but the longer she looked at the painting the louder and more boisterous it became. Soon she was crouching and laughing so hard she was crying. Even Sabine was laughing a bit as she finished because of her.

The door opened. “Finished,” Sabine announced, and she stopped laughing, though she was still wiping tears from her eyes.

Ezra looked at her, concerned. “Uh, finished with what, Sabine?”

“Thought it was a moment that needed to be immortalized.”

Gemini looked back up at the painting and started to laugh again. “Absolutely!”

Zeb and Ezra grumbled. She stood up and plopped herself on Zeb’s bunk.

“And you did say you wanted to be my inspiration,” Sabine said to Ezra.

“Yeah, but that makes me look like a fool.”

“Makes me look like a bigger fool,” Zeb grumbled.

“I paint what I see.”

Chopper suddenly let out a droid-like laugh from the doorway, spinning his dome.

“Chopper!”

“This was all your fault!”

Chopper chittered nervously, speeding away quickly.

“Come back, you metal menace!”

“I’m tearing that rust bucket apart!” Zeb growled and ran after chopper, Ezra hot on his heels. A second later, a huge crash came from the cargo hold.

_“It’s his fault!”_

Gemini just smiled from her spot on Zeb’s bunk. Maybe things would turn out okay after all.


	8. Rise of the Old Masters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Grand Inquisitor makes his first appearance and Ezra is jealous.

Jedi training had finally begun. Gemini half-way expected Kanan to do something showy, but having her and Ezra balance on one hand on top of the Ghost was something else.

By itself, the exercise seemed easy enough. The catch was that the Ghost wasn’t on the ground. It was _floating_ high above the ground. So there was also the threat of death hanging over their heads as they balanced. She was really trying not to think about how far down the ground was as she flipped onto her hands.

“Breathe. Focus on finding your balance.”

As she sucked in her breath, she turned her focus to the calming hum of the Ghost. It helped her fall into a meditative state, and unconsciously shifted her weight from hand to hand when the ship tilted.

“Good. Try one hand now.”

She sucked in another breath, shifting all her weight onto her right hand. She stayed in that position for another minute or two before Kanan spoke again.

“Well done, Gemini.”

She opened her eyes and fell back onto her feet. Kanan was looking at her with a satisfied look in his eyes. He turned to Ezra, crossing his arms. “That’s how it’s done.”

Ezra rolled his eyes, stepping forward to the gunner position and falling into a handstand. She sat down next to Zeb, who looked bored out of his mind.

“Focus,” Kanan told Ezra. “Focus on letting go.”

“Letting go? Rather hold on, if you don’t mind.” He tried shifting his weight onto one hand, but fell back onto both.

“Enough jokes. Focus.”

Ezra grunted, trying to go up onto one hand again. “I’m trying.”

“Do or do not, there is no try.”

“What does that even mean? How can I do something if I don’t try to do it?”

Gemini looked up to Kanan inquisitively. “Well, see-“ He grumbled to himself. “Actually, that one always confused me too. But Master Yoda sure used to say it a lot.”

She rolled her eyes. How dumb could these two doofuses get?

Zeb yawned next to her, standing up and stretching. “I really thought this Jedi stuff would be more interesting. No wonder the old religion died.”

Chopper warbled in agreement.

Zeb stepped up to where he was face to face with Ezra. “Come on, kid. Do something. Amuse me. Use the Force!” He grabbed hold of the gun barrels attached to the turret and yanked them back and forth, causing Ezra to lose what balance he had and fall backward into a crate of empty milk cartons.

Zeb and chopper laughed at Ezra.

She rolled her eyes again. They’re all idiots, she told herself as she walked behind Kanan.

Kanan grabbed a hold of Ezra’s arm and helped him out of the crate. Ezra yanked it out of his grasp. “Does he have to be here?”

Kanan walked to the edge of the Ghost, putting his arms behind his back and looking out to the clouds. “He’s annoying but there will always be distractions. You need to learn to focus through them, like Gemini.”

She glanced at Ezra, who sent her a glare.

Kanan turned back around. “Here, let’s try something else.” He pulled out his lightsaber, connecting the two pieces, and handed it to Ezra, who took it excitedly.

Ezra ran his fingers along the hilt. “When do I get my own?”

Kanan pulled Ezra closer, almost glaring at him. “Having a laser sword doesn’t make you a Jedi.”

“Get’s me closer.” He activated the saber, almost impaling Kanan with the blade.

“Careful!” Kanan inched around to behind Ezra, pointing something out on the hilt. “There’s a control on the side that adjusts the length to your height.”

The blade shortened a few moments later.

“I think it should be a little shorter,” Zeb suggested.

Chopper laughed in his droid language as Ezra glared at them.

Ezra walked a little farther away, swinging the saber a bit.

“Okay. Close your eyes,” Kanan ordered. After Ezra had closed his eyes, Zeb and Chopper picked up an empty carton. “Let him have it, Chopper.”

Chopper spun his “head,” launching a carton at Ezra.

 _Smack_. “Ow!”

Chopper launched another carton.

 _Smack_. _Grunt_.

“Be precise. Keep the blade-“

 _Smack_. _Groan_.

“-up.” Kanan facepalmed, and Gemini started to feel bad for both Ezra and Kanan.

Zeb laughed. “That’s it, kid. Use your body to slow down that trash.”

Three more bottles hit Ezra, who was starting to become unbalanced. As he staggered back, Gemini noticed that he was getting dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

“No. You’re not _(cringe)_ focusing.” He sighed.

Gemini stood from her sitting position and stood close to Kanan. She lowered her voice. “I think you should tell them to stop.”

They both glanced over to Zeb, who was just dumping the contents of the crate on Chopper at this point.

Kanan sighed again. “Yeah, you’re probably right. This isn’t working.”

“No, I mean, look at how close he’s getting to the - “

She saw Ezra fall backward in her peripheral vision, and before she knew it she was running towards him. He clawed at the glass, desperately trying to find something to grab on to.

“ _No!_ ” She stretched out her hand . . . and suddenly felt as if she was holding him up with one hand. She stretched out with her other hand, which helped, but not really. Ezra was _really_ heavy.

“Don’t imagine him falling! Whatever you do, don’t imagine him falling!”

“That’s not really helping!” She strained. The weight suddenly lightened, and she quickly glanced over to see Kanan helping her lift Ezra back up to the ship.

They kept lifting him up and up, and soon the strain started getting to her.

“Zeb!” She called, and finally let go, feeling drained.

“Got him!”

Gemini sighed. Kanan put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Well done, Gemini.” He led her back down the gunner position, where Ezra was waiting for them. “You weren’t focused.”

“Tough to focus when I’m falling to my death,” he responded.

Kanan grabbed his arm as he tried to walk away.

Gemini did her best to look invisible again, and really wanted to get away from the conversation.

“You wouldn’t have been falling to your death if you were focused. You’re undisciplined and full of self-doubt.”

Ezra yanked his arm from Kanan’s grip. “And whose fault is that, _Master_?”

He turned around as Zeb approached. Kanan sighed. “It’s difficult to teach.”

Zeb turned Ezra around so he was facing him. “He means it’s difficult to teach _you_.”

Gemini slid past Ezra and Zeb into the lounge, trying her best to ignore Ezra’s eyes angrily boring holes in the back of her head.

“Kanan, I -“

Sabine shushed him. “You made the Holonet.”

_“The stolen TIE fighter was later used to attack a transport full of innocent workers.”_

“You liar!” Zeb said. “We set ‘em free.”

The transmission suddenly crackled, and it changed to a picture of an older-looking man. _“Citizens, this is Senator-in-Exile Gall Trayvis. I bring more news the Empire doesn’t want you to hear.”_

“What’s a Gall Trayvis?” Ezra asked before she could.

Hera spoke up. “The only member of the Imperial Senate with the courage to speak out publicly against the Empire.”

The picture changed to a pair of troopers escorting a female prisoner. _“One of the Republic’s greatest peacekeepers, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, is alive. She has been imprisoned unlawfully somewhere in the Stygeon system. As citizens, we demand the Emperor produce Master Unduli and grant her a fair trial before the entire Sen-“_ The transmission suddenly cut off, changing back to the holonet.

Gemini was as surprised as Kanan had looked during the transmission. She was under the impression that all the old Jedi masters had been killed. “Kanan, did you know this Luminara?” She asked.

“I met her, once,” he responded. “She was a great Jedi Master. Brave, compassionate, disciplined. In fact, she’d make an excellent teacher for you,” he said, referring to Ezra, who glared some more. “There’ve always been rumors she survived the Clone Wars, but they never came with a specific location before. We can’t pass this up.”

Hera smiled. “Was hoping you’d say that. I’ll set course for the Stygeon system.” She left the lounge, heading towards the cockpit.

“The rest of you, prep for an op.”

Gemini left for her room as quickly as she could, running her fingers through her hair and grabbing the jacket Sabine had spotted in a market on the planet Sullust. After shrugging on the jacket she strapped on her holster, which carried the blaster that Hera had given her. The LL-30 had a small body with a sleek silver barrel. She had practiced with it and Sabine had been impressed with her aim. Gemini mentally thanked those self-defense classes back at the academy and on Voyager for that.

After everyone had convened in the Cockpit, Chopper displayed a hologram of a huge tower. She stood silently and observed the tower’s defenses, trying hard to ignore Ezra’s glares.

“Welcome to the Spire on Stygeon Prime,” Sabine started, “the only Imperial detainment facility in the Stygeon system, and it’s impregnable.”

"That’s never stopped us before,” Kanan argued.

“Trust me, we have never faced anything like this. It’s a real work of art. Blast proof, ray shielded, protected by anti-ship weapons, TIE fighters, and short and long-range scanners.”

“We can fool the scanners,” Hera said.

“Uh, maybe,” Sabine conceded, “but that just leaves an army of troopers and guard posts on all the walls. Look, even if we get into this beauty, the hard part’s getting out. ‘Cause, you know, it’s a prison.”

“Well, what about going in low and sneaking onto this landing platform?” Ezra asked.

Sabine shook her head. “Platform has a heavy trooper presence and reinforced blast doors. Impossible to get in or out that way.”

“Here.” Kanan pointed to a small platform towards the base of the tower. “There’s only room for a couple of guards. We take them down, make our way to the upper-level isolation cells, free Luminara, and come back out the way we came in.”

She sighed. Honestly, that wasn’t a very great plan.

Chopper chattered something.

“Yeah,” Sabine agreed. “You’d have to be crazy to try that lousy plan.”

“Let’s hope the Empire thinks so too.”

* * *

Kanan had explained the finer details of the plan before they entered the Stygeon system. Kanan would jump down and take out the guards, and Ezra would jump down with her, Zeb, and Sabine so he could unlock the doors. Sabine and Zeb would hold the corridor while the three of them would free Master Luminara. Hera would stay in the Phantom to secure their ride off of the planet.

As Hera detached the Phantom from the Ghost, Chopper was complaining to Zeb via commlink. “Sorry, Chop. We just don’t need your damaged logic circuits on this one.”

Gemini stood in the corner of the ship by the door, trying her best to make it look like she was messing with her blaster, but in reality, she was scared out of her mind. What if she had to shoot one of those troopers? She had killed troopers before, but had that really been her?

“Thirty seconds,” Hera said from the cockpit. “Good luck.”

“Luck?” Zeb grumbled. “We’re gonna need a miracle.”

“Here are three,” Sabine responded, pulling out three bombs and holding them out. Zeb and Ezra both took one.

Kanan eyed Ezra. “Try to stay focused.”

“I thought there was no try,” he smirked back.

Kanan glared at him, turning away and nodding confidently at her. She smiled softly back, still not liking how much he was favoring her. According to what he had told her, she had prior experience when Ezra had basically none. Kanan should be taking that into account when training them.

The door opened and Kanan jumped out, landed softly, and took out the two troopers guarding the door with ease. 

She watched him silently, smiling a little.

“Kid wait! What are you doing?”

Ezra suddenly jumped out after her, and she instinctively used the Force to stop him from falling hard on the platform. He yelped as he came to a stop inches from the platform. She let him go, breathing heavily. What was with him today?

She could hear Kanan berating Ezra on the platform as she jumped down with Sabine and Zeb. “ . . . This is exactly why you need Master Luminara to teach you discipline.”

“I was just following your example,” Ezra tried to explain.

“Yeah? Well, maybe you should follow Gemini’s example. Stay _focused_ , and _follow the plan_.”

Ezra’s head was lowered in shame, but his face hardened into a glare when he spotted her. She shied away from him and walked toward Zeb, who was trying to prop up the two unconscious stormtroopers.

Sabine pressed a few buttons, but the doors stayed closed. “I hate to interrupt, but we need the kid to unlock the door.”

“I got it.” Ezra pulled out a tool, starting to work on the doors. A searchlight passed over the platform and Kanan dodged it, hissing Ezra’s name. “Quiet,” Ezra told him. “I’m focusing.” The door opened just then, and they all walked in. “You’re welcome.”

Zeb smacked him upside the head. “You did your job. You want a medal?”

She held back as Kanan, Sabine, and Zeb took out the squad of troopers in the hall, shoving them in a supply closet a little ways past the turbo lifts. She stuck close to Kanan as he closed his eyes.

“Luminara’s here,” he said out loud. “I sense her presence, but it’s clouded.” He sounded confused.

“What does that mean?” She asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said sincerely. He stepped up to Sabine. “Where’s Master Unduli?”

Sabine pressed a few buttons. “Uh, detention block CC-01. Isolation cell 0169.”

“They have isolation cells on the lower levels? We planned off of outdated schematics.” Kanan lightly punched the wall.

“What does that mean?” Ezra asked.

“It means the plan changes.”

“You got a backup plan?” Zeb crossed his arms.

“Figuring one out right now.” He turned to a turbolift. “Zeb, Sabine, you’re coming along.”

“Weren’t we supposed to hold our escape route here?”

“Now the turbolift _is_ our escape route. Let’s go.”

She slipped herself into the front corner of the turbolift, feeling a tiny bit claustrophobic with so many people inside it.

Sabine groaned. “His plan gets worse all the time.”

“Just hope he doesn’t change it again,” Zeb deadpanned.

“I’m standing right here.”

“We know.” “We know.”

Everyone was silent as the turbolift continued down. The tension between her, Ezra, and Kanan was so thick you could cut it with a lightsaber. She stood awkwardly, fingering her blaster. The Force was tingling in the back of her mind, her nervousness making her feel sick to her stomach. Any movement she made threatened to empty the contents of her stomach. She focused on her breathing, looking straight ahead and breathing deeply until she felt her breaths come easier.

The doors opened, Kanan dragged two stormtroopers, the doors closed again, and they were pummeled almost instantly.

Kanan stepped out, looking around warily. “Maintain comm silence, and whatever you do, _hold this lift_.”

She and Ezra stepped out nervously, and two stormtroopers rounded the corner. “Hey you! Stop!”

They raised their blasters, and Kanan yanked them towards him with the Force, slamming his fists into their heads, knocking them out.

“Wow,” Ezra said. “You’re really not messing around tonight.”

“There’s a lot more at stake than you realize.” Kanan turned and started down the hallway.

She and Ezra exchanged wary looks before silently following him. They turned down a corridor that led them to the isolation cells. Kanan then stretched out a hand as they rounded the corner, using the Force on the two guards.

“Shouldn’t you be guarding the Jedi’s cell? It’s on the next level.”

“It’s on the next level.” The stormtrooper sounded dazed and out of it.

“You better get moving.”

“We better get moving.” The troopers both ran from the cell door.

She was slightly surprised. Sure, she didn’t expect for there to be an all-powerful force (pun not intended) that held the universe together, but she also didn’t expect that it could be used for telekinesis and telepathy. (She was pretty sure that one could use it to see the future, but she wasn’t certain.)

“When do I learn that?” Ezra asked.

“Luminara will teach you,” he told Ezra as he unlocked the door. “Much better than I could,” he continued softly to himself.

Gemini honestly felt bad for Ezra. Kanan doubts himself just as much as Ezra does.

After entering the cell, she looked over the woman inside. She was small, shorter than Ezra with startling blue eyes and a small facial tattoo. Gemini expected to feel something; a connection in the Force maybe, but she felt nothing. It was as if she wasn’t there.

“Is it really her?” Ezra asked.

“Yes,” Kanan confirmed, “but . . . something’s wrong.”

Luminara stood from the bench and walked toward Kanan. 

“Master?”

She looked at him for a moment before turning away and walking towards what looked like a coffin on the wall. Luminara _flickered_ , backed into the coffin, and disappeared. The window in the coffin let them see the face of someone long dead.

Kanan gasped slightly.

“What happened to her? I don’t understand,” Ezra said.

“She was a hologram,” she responded softly. “She was never really here.”

“That is correct, child. I’m impressed.” She turned to the door, and her whole body tensed. Her breathing came in shallow gasps and her body shivered with cold. The figure that stood in the doorway emanated the Dark Side. “I am the Inquisitor.” He activated his saber, the blade glowing a blood red. The door closed behind him. “Welcome,” he grinned. “Yes. I’m afraid Master Luminara died with the Republic. But her bones continue to serve the Empire, luring the last Jedi to their ends.”

Ezra’s comlink chirped as it activated. “Spectre 3, come in. It’s a trap!” Static crackled through the comlink.

“There will be no reinforcements.”

Kanan charged the Inquisitor, who effortlessly started countering his attacks. They exchanged blows a bit longer, and Ezra pulled her out of their way. Their blades collided, and the Inquisitor spoke. “Interesting. It seems you trained with Jedi Master Depa Billaba.”

Kanan’s eyes widened in shock. “How . . . Who are you?” 

The Inquisitor attacked next, stepping out of the way when Kanan lunged. “The temple records are quite complete.” He slashed at Kanan. “Billaba’s emphasis was always on form three, which you favor to a ridiculous degree.”

Ezra suddenly shot an electric ball at the Inquisitor, who turned back and blocked it with a scowl. He looked at her, his eyes squinting as he examined her. She cringed, and Ezra stepped in front of her protectively.

Kanan suddenly yelled and charged, but the Inquisitor jumped over him and kicked him in the back. Kanan stumbled, falling to the ground. He turned and glared at the Inquisitor with bared teeth.

“Clearly, you were a poor student.”

She finally remembered the blaster on her hip, taking it out and firing at the Inquisitor. He deflected all her shots without even a second thought.

“Is that really all you’ve got, my dear?”

“I’ve got that.” She gestured to the door, where the bomb Ezra had set beeped rapidly before exploding and opening the door. They ran through, Kanan turning around to face the Inquisitor.

The Inquisitor held out his blade, and another saber emerged.

_Since when can someone have two sabers?_

Red and Blue blades clashed again, and the Inquisitor held Kanan back for a moment. “Are you paying attention, children? The Jedi are dead, but there is another path, the Dark Side.”

Ezra fired more electric balls. She went for her blaster but she was suddenly flying through the corridor and landing hard on her back. She groaned, forcing herself up.

“Have you taught them nothing?” They exchanged blows again, and this time Kanan twisted in mid-air, dodging an attack from the Inquisitor. “Do you really think you can save them? For their sake, surrender.”

“I’m not making deals with you.”

“Hmm. Then we’ll let them make one, shall we?” The Inquisitor thrust out his hand, and she gasped when Kanan hit the ground hard behind them.“Your master cannot save you, boy. He is unfocused and undisciplined.”

“Then we’re perfect for each other!” Ezra fired at the Inquisitor, who came at them with his saber. She twisted, dodging the attack, and lept over the Inquisitor, who now stood in between them and Kanan.

“You have remarkable talent, my dear. It is being wasted in your current position.”

The comment made her angry. “I’m not listening to anything you have to say.”

“Oh, well. I do so admire your persistence. Ready to die?” He charged them, and she prepared herself to die. Just before he reached them, he suddenly froze in place, then was yanked to the ceiling. She looked to Kanan, who seemed to be struggling.

“Run!”

They quickly ran past the Inquisitor, and Kanan let go when they reached him. They helped him up and turned back to the Inquisitor. He turned his saber, which started _spinning_. If the saber didn’t belong to a Sith, it would have been really cool.

“Does yours do that?” Ezra asked.

Kanan shoved Ezra ahead of him. “Come on! Let’s go!”

They started running through the corridors. “Guys! This way!” They turned left, following Sabine and Zeb.

“You figured out it was a trap?” Kanan asked.

“Yeah. Luminara?”

“Long gone. Our new exit?”

“Landing platform.”

“Thought it was impossible to get out that way.”

“Well, let’s hope the Empire thinks so, too.”

The Inquisitor’s voice suddenly sounded from speakers in the hallway. “Secure the facility. Full lockdown.”

“Well, that’s not helpful,” Ezra stated.

“No duh, Captain Obvious!” She groaned when the blast doors started closing ahead of them, and they had to start jumping through them. The openings got smaller and smaller, and soon Zeb charged ahead, just in time to keep the doors open.

“Can’t do this all day!” He strained.

She dove through the opening, rolling to her feet and continuing to run to the room at the end of the corridor. Zeb shot the controls, sealing the doors.

Sabine ran to the door controls for the door to the landing platform. “I’ve got it! I -“ She pressed a few buttons, then groaned. “I’m locked out of the system. Ezra?”

She stepped aside so Ezra could try, but an electric spark shocked stopped him as well and sent him to the floor. “Sorry.”

“Ezra, Gemini!” Kanan walked to the center of the door. “Together.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Picture the locking mechanism in your mind.”

She closed her eyes and stretched out her hand to the door, picturing the door unlocking in her head.

“Excuse me, but can we train Ezra later?”

She stretched out with the Force, lifting her hand, and the door opened. She opened her eyes and grinned, but it dropped when she saw just how many stormtroopers were waiting on the other side.

She crouched when they started firing and pulled out her gun, doing her best to hit a trooper and not get hit.

“One last miracle, here,” Zeb said, and threw their last bomb.

The bomb exploded, creating an opening for them to run through. They stopped when they found cover, and she continued to fire as Sabine contacted Hera.

“Specter 5 to Phantom. We’re on the landing deck, ready for pickup.”

She dodged a laser bolt, and fired back, actually hitting the stormtrooper. She grinned to herself. Ezra had never shot a stormtrooper, had he?

_“On my way, Spectre 5. And I’m bringing the fleet.”_

“We have a fleet?” Zeb asked.

 _“We do now.”_ The Phantom rose above the platform, surrounded by what could only be the local wildlife. They turned against the stormtroopers, knocking them down and off of the platform.

Kanan gestured for them to head towards the Phantom. Zeb destroyed a tower, and she managed to hit a few more stormtroopers.

She ran onto the Phantom, looking back just in time to see Kanan knock aside the Inquisitor’s lightsaber.

“Does yours do that?” Zeb asked once they were all on the Phantom.

She took a seat, finally able to take a breath.

Kanan headed towards Hera as she flew back to the Ghost. They talked softly.

“Master Luminara?”

“Gone. We’ll have to find a way to spread the word.”

“How’s Ezra taking it?”

“Not as bad as I am. I guess he’s stuck with me. For now.”

Gemini glanced at Ezra, who looked worse than before.

* * *

After landing back on Lothal, Gemini headed to her room to relax and unwind. Ezra went and sat on the ramp. When Kanan came behind him, he sighed. “Look, don’t bother saying it. I’m letting you off the hook.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you wanted to dump me on Luminara ‘cause you like Gemini better. Just ‘cause she’s gone doesn’t mean you’re stuck with me.”

“I don’t wanna dump you.” Kanan sighed, sitting down next to Ezra. “Look, I just wanted you to have the best teacher.”

“Well, I don’t want the best teacher. I want you.” Ezra realized how that must have sounded, and tried to explain. “Uh, not that you’re not the best, I - “

“Ezra, Gemini was trained.”

He paused. “What?”

“You remember what happened that day?”

Ezra looked away. “Yeah.”

“The only way she could have been able to do that was if she had been trained before.”

Ezra thought for a bit. “You mean by the Empire.”

“Yeah. The reason why it seems like I favored her for so long was because I was gauging how much she knew. I never meant for you to think that I liked her more than you.”

After a moment Ezra spoke up. “I want to find out what happened to her. I want to make sure that whatever happened to her never happens again.”

Kanan smiled at him. “We will.” He looked out at the plains and sighed again. “Ezra, I’m not gonna try to teach you anymore.”

Ezra deflated and looked away sadly.

“If all I do is try, that means I don’t truly believe I can succeed. So from now on, I _will_ teach you. I may fail. You may fail. But there is no try.”

“I understand . . . Master.”

“Let’s see if you do.”

* * *

The Grand Inquisitor stood in the command center of the prison. To those around him, he was probably brooding over the fact that the Rebels had gotten away. In actuality, he was deep in thought over the young human female. She had seemed so familiar to him, and she had definitely reacted to his presence. Perhaps she had been a cadet at the Academy? No, she was far too skilled for that. Where else could she have -

Ah. Perhaps she had come from - well, it was a possibility at least.

“Commander, get me General Beren.”

“Yes, Inquisitor.”


	9. The Waiting Game; or, Breaking Ranks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gemini doesn't like waiting, and the sub-plot is her comm badge.

If she was being honest, Gemini had a love/hate relationship with the concept of waiting. If she was in the middle of a mission and her next move depended on another action, then waiting was no big deal. She was in control, so she was fine with it. As soon as someone else took control, however, sitting still became impossible. She would resort to pacing, groaning, and even pouting to pass the time. 

Needless to say, she was concerned for Ezra. 

She had gotten better with waiting, as she had found that meditating would calm her and help pass the time, but she had been with Sabine and Zeb for the better part of a month now. That “something better happen NOW” feeling was coming back. 

Considering she was the most generic looking out of the trio, she spent the most time looking out for Ezra or Chopper. She spent many long hours staring at droids and following random stormtroopers around. She knew that stormtroopers were stupid most of the time, but she had no idea how stupid they actually were until she watched one get his head stuck in his helmet, which in turn got stuck in a random bucket. Needless to say, that was the best laugh she’d had for a while. 

She sighed from her perch on the roof, taking out her comm badge. She turned it on, listening to the static that came from it. She was starting to think of Voyager less and less, and that scared her. 

“What’s that?”

Gemini gasped, turning around to see Sabine looking at her curiously. “Oh, um, I don’t know.”

Sabine walked over and sat down next to her. Gemini swallowed nervously. “Where did you get it?”

Gemini thought frantically. “It was in one of my pockets when I woke up.” She handed the comm badge to Sabine, who turned it in her hands. “I think it has some sort of tech inside, but I’m not sure.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Press it.”

Sabine pressed the comm badge, which emanated static. She listened for a second. “It kinda sounds like a comm unit. Whatever channel it’s on might be dead, which could explain the static.” She tilted her head. “I could pop this baby open, take a look at the tech inside. I might be able to get it working again.”

Gemini smiled. “I have been needing a comm link. Thanks.”

“Sure thing! It’ll give me something to do until Ezra decides to do his job anyway.” She rolled her eyes and jumped off the back end of the roof. 

* * *

Sabine kept a hand close to her comm unit that night during her shift. There had been a test for the Imperial Cadets, and they were waiting on Chopper to let them know if Ezra had passed or not. 

Gemini and Zeb were standing in the alley with Sabine. She had found that Zeb was overall a quiet person who enjoyed his privacy, and she could respect that. 

Sabine activated her comm after spotting Chopper’s signal. “Spectre 5 to Ghost. Looks like the kid passed the first test. He’s inside Imperial HQ.”

_“Roger, Specter 5. Ghost standing by.”_

Gemini was used to the plan going wrong somehow, given she spent a whole bunch of time on a Starfleet ship in the middle of the Delta Quadrant. She pretty much expected it at this point, so when the blast doors to the Academy closed for the night with no sign of Ezra, she wasn’t surprised. 

Sabine activated her comm again. “Specter-5 to Ghost. Something went wrong. The kid didn't get the device, and he didn't come out.”

_“Copy that, Specter-5. Give him one more day.”_

Zeb groaned.

She would never admit it, but she absolutely agreed with him.

* * *

They were waiting for Ezra the following night in the same alley. She had been restless all day, and hadn’t gotten sleep in what felt like ages. 

She quickly stifled a yawn as Chopper rounded the corner into the alley and straightened. 

“Did you get the decoder?” Zeb asked. 

Chopper warbled, opening a compartment and revealing the decoder. Sabine grabbed it and looked it over.

“Good. Where’s Ezra?”

Chopper warbled again. 

Sabine perked up. “What? What do you mean he went back to the Academy?”

Her eyes widened. “He went back!?”

Chopper suddenly produced a hologram of Ezra, who began talking. _“Guys, I know you’re expecting me, but I have to stay at the Academy. There’s this kid there, Jai Kell. And he’ll get scooped up by the Inquisitor if I don’t help him.”_

“The Inquisitor’s involved now?” She asked rhetorically, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I swear, Ezra’s out of his-“

_“Spectre 7’s probably complaining that I’ve lost my mind. And she’s probably right. But it’s her fault. The old me never stuck his neck out for a stranger. Clearly, I’ve spent way too long with you heroes. Decode the hyperspace coordinates and get them to Spectre 1. Oh, and if you’re not too busy, attack the Academy tomorrow at noon. I could use the diversion so I can get out of here. Spectre 6 out.”_

She had to hand it to him. Ezra was getting better at the whole “hero” thing. Plus, she had something to look forward to.

Sabine quickly decoded the coordinates, activating her comm. “Spectre 5 to Ghost. Sending coordinates for Imperial jump route. If you leave now, you should still be able to intercept.”

_“Coordinates received,”_ Hera confirmed. _“We’re heading out.”_

_“Good work Spectre 5,”_ Kanan said next. _“And you too, Spectre 6.”_

Sabine cringed. “Uh, Spectre 6 isn’t with us.”

_“What? Where is he?”_ The comm turned to static, signaling they were out of range. 

Zeb chuckled, settling down for a nap. “He didn’t sound happy.”

* * *

The next day, Gemini pretended to study a selection of fruits and handed one of Sabine’s variety of bombs to Chopper as he passed by. 

Later, she managed to steal an abandoned speeder, tucking it in an alley near the Academy. Since she didn’t have much field experience, she agreed to be their getaway driver. 

She was able to see the Academy from her seat in the speeder. A leg on the walker on display outside the Academy exploded, and the blast doors began to lower. From what she could tell, the walker inside the Academy was part of the attack, and she was pretty sure the cadet struggling to get into the walker was probably Ezra. 

A troop transport fired at the feet of the rouge walker, causing the walker to fall and hold up the closing blast doors. Ezra tumbled off and was promptly surrounded by troopers. 

Zeb was a pretty good sniper, and that bow-rifle of his certainly helped. He was able to take out two of the troopers before Sabine jumped from the troop transport and took out the other two. 

Zeb approached, getting into the passenger seat. “Let’s go.”

She nodded, pulling out of the alleyway and stopping right outside of the Academy. “Get in!”

Sabine, Ezra, another cadet, and chopper all fit in somehow, and she sped off to the rendezvous with the Ghost.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the cadet, whose name she learned was Jai Kell, and Ezra the entire way there. She kept her focus on the plains in front of her for the most part, ignoring Zeb’s fiddling with his bow rifle and Jai’s nervous movements. 

On a whim, she looked at Ezra in the seat behind her, stretching out through the Force in greeting. He was taken aback at first, but soon he mingled with her as well. He was happy to see her, she could tell, as well as excited to get back to the Ghost and Kanan. His cheeks reddened as he sent another feeling towards her. He missed her, she realized. She smiled as she turned back to the plains, sending him her feelings as well. 

Jai hugged himself as Hera approached him when they arrived at the Ghost. Ezra introduced him to her, and she put a hand on his shoulder as she explained what would happen next. “Jai, we’ll take you to your mother, but you’ll both have to go into hiding.”

“Yeah, from the Empire. No problem.” He started up the ramp of the Ghost. 

“We’ll help with that, too.” She followed him up. 

She started up the ramp, stopping when Kanan came down to talk to Ezra. “So how was it, kid?”

“Forgot what it was like to be on my own.”

“You miss it?”

“No grumpy robots, no smelly Lasats. It’s good to be back.”

Kanan chuckled. “At ease, Cadet.”

Ezra saluted playfully. “Sir, yes, sir.”

She rolled her eyes as they came up the ramp. Ezra’s Force reached out to hers, and she mingled with it as she climbed up the ladder to the cockpit. 

Kanan stopped suddenly, looking back and forth from Ezra, who was grinning widely, and Gemini, who was trying - and failing - not to laugh. He reached out with his Force and playfully smacked theirs. They looked to him in shock, and he winked. 

Gemini blinked, heading to the room she shared with Sabine. She could feel both Ezra’s and Kanan’s presence more clearly now. 

She kicked off her boots as the door closed behind her, stretching her arms overhead. 

_“Spectre 5 to Spectre 7.”_

She stopped. That sounded like it came from her bunk. 

_“Spectre 7, come in.”_

Sitting on her bunk was a black and purple wristlet, like the one Sabine had. It was smaller and more stylish, so it would fit in with her outfit. Sitting in the center, where a gem would, was her comm badge. 

It flared to life again. _“Spectre 7, please respond.”_

She put on the wristlet, finding that simply tilting it in her direction activated it. “Sabine?“

_“Oh, good. It works. The tech was a little strange, but I changed the receptors to our channels and reconfigured the activation mechanism so it would activate like our comm links. I still had time, though, so I decided to have a little fun with it. What do you think?”_

“It’s amazing, Sabine! Thank you.”

_“You’re welcome, Gem.”_

She smiled, turning it on her wrist. Somehow, she felt a little better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year to you all! Moving to a new house, finishing the semester, and dealing with both COVID and the fact that my brother is joining the military kept me from posting, so I'll try to update ASAP before school starts again. Thank you all for understanding, and I'll see you in the next chapter!


End file.
